Do LLMs make code a "materialized view"?

Here is Tanner Linsley on React and Preact.1 One hears versions of its central claim often these days: We only treat code as the source of truth because regenerating it is expensive. Flip that cost and the model inverts: the ideas become the base table, and the code becomes one projection among many. I am indeed optimistic about the future of migrations: see here, here, and here. Indeed, I think that most programmers are still underestimating how different this part of the job will be. I disagree with the "code is just a projection" view, though, for several reasons: Hyrum's Law reminds us that users will depend on any observable behavior of your system.2 Your ideas underdetermine your code, so the code must be more than a materialization of ideas.3 Different platforms, languages, and tools are different. The "ideas" and their expression will, therefore, be different. Consider a fairly simple idea like: "show all options to the user and let them pick up to three." This task is way…