Ruby on Rails creator DHH says he's done writing code by hand
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David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, announced at Rails World 2026 that he has stopped writing code manually after 25 years in professional programming. This marks a significant reversal from his stance just over a year ago, when he was actively resisting AI coding tools. DHH stated that he has not written a single line of code by hand since March 2026, arguing that manual coding no longer makes economic sense for most developers and companies. He famously claimed during his keynote that English is now a better programming language than Ruby. Rather than viewing this shift as an end, he framed it as the beginning of a new career where programmers become "professional makers" who direct AI agents. DHH emphasized that traditional software architecture abstractions are losing value as AI handles code changes, noting that no one currently has a blueprint for this new paradigm. He described this transition as the most significant event in the history of computing.
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