Date: Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:13:56 +1030
From: mark.daniel@wasd.vsm.com.au
Subject: [Info-WASD] AI and WASD
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Comments: WASD HTTPd OpenVMS Web Server discussion list
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TL;DR  WASD will have Artificial Intelligence (AI), CGIplus-implemented
       assistive modules, taking the hard work out of event-driven code.=20

Those with a fifty year career in computing (like myself) may well turn out
to be unique in the annals of the discipline.  Having begun in the early
1970s and continued for a half century, spanning at least a couple of human
generations, through accessible (corporate) computing machinery, then
affordable (personal) computing, and on to ubiquitous (in-the-pocket)
computing, software development has been an engaging, often respected,
and sometimes lucrative, way to earn a crust.  For how much longer?

Early in this period a tertiary qualification was commonly the embarkation
point into corporate computing.  Computer time was a precious commodity where=

interned programmers were required to participate in code reviews before
wasting the efforts of card-punch operators and overnight operations staff,
only to be greeted the following morning by a ream of error fanfold.

As computers went from room-size to aisle-size with the advent of the likes
of PDP and then VAX systems, often boasting time-sharing Operating Systems,
coupled with video terminals such as the VT100 replacing hard-copy, making it=

effective to have the compiler check code syntax, and to conduct more ad hoc
runs and interactive debugging, these reviews were progressively relaxed.
Programming became more 'suck it and see'=EA=99=B3=EA=99=B3

  =EA=99=B3=EA=99=B3 British, informal
     : to try something in order to find out if it is good, effective, etc.
       We don't know if it will work. We'll have to just suck it and see.

As mid-size computers continued to shrink until they fitted desk-side, and
then desk-top, computing became per-person, and while the grunt may have been=

applied by corporate data processing departments, the use of spreadsheets,
personal databases and desktop publishing, meant broader application of
problem solving and data processing skillsets.  Information exploded.
Knowing about and getting to that information was the next big step.

This is where WASD made a (very) small contribution.  Networking, online
storage, and access to data became the paradigms of the information age.
A support contractor at CERN, building on previously published ideas,
cemented the elementary but effective concept of data sets linked together by=

textual documents.  The idea was conceived, gestated, born, and eventually
blessed as the World-Wide Web; adopted, raised, educated, and then of course
sent out into the world to make their corporate fortunes.

Artificial Intelligence
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AI is the ability of computer systems to perform tasks previously requiring
human intelligence.  Tasks such as learning, reasoning, perception,
problem-solving, and decision-making.

AI is redefining the role of software engineering and development, moving
staff from code implementers to orchestrators of technology, from humble
coding to enterprise architecture.

Tools such as generative AI, code completion systems and automated testing
reduce the need for engineers, developers and programmers to manually write
code, debug or conduct time-consuming tests.

Using no-code and low-code platforms, nontechnical users can build
applications using AI without needing programming expertise, enabling more
general business staff to generate solutions specifically for their needs.=
=20

  https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/ai-in-software-development

AI and WASD
~~~~~~~~~~~
WASD is an event-driven application.

It eschews implicit threading in all implementations, instead explicitly
grabbing and processing each event, software and hardware, with its own code
elements, orchestrating these into a functional whole to deliver the data to
the end-user.  Such a non-linear coding practise makes it more difficult to
gain an overall grasp of functional flow (though WATCH helps).  There is no
mechanism for integrating additional functionality within the monolithic
server code itself.  Event-driven software requires a particular mindset.

Hence workarounds such as CGIplus that allow additional functionality to be
more conventionally integrated into the server infrastructure, wrapped by a
familiar, low-latency IPC, that can respond on-demand, coming and going, even=

failing independent of the server proper.

Considering the specific demands of event-driven coding, WASD will introduce,=

initially as independent, CGIplus coupled modules, AI coding tools to ease
developing the mechanics of such code.  It is envisaged that judicious usage
will quickly have WASD and site-specific applications tightly integrated with=

the server proper, including its own AI coding tools, completely eliminating
the need for CGIplus itself.

This first generation AI-enhanced WASD should then iterate to a second
generation, furthering the integration, possibly using JIT recompilation to
incorporate the underlying operating system into WASD.

WASD ex machina.

Happy April First everybody.

Postscript
~~~~~~~~~~
A shift from silliness to the faintly philosophical ...

The advent of effective applied AI on skilled occupations makes me thankful
to have been employed in a niche technology during its probable halcyon days.=

Impacts will be realised *soon*.  Pleased to be out of it.

Further musing ...

Whether AI become effective tools, extending humanity's reach; a congenial
partner reflecting humankind's loftier aspirations; or perhaps less benign
associates such as Dave Bowman overpowered in the Clarke/Kubrick classic,
A Space Odyssey; even an adversarial overlord such as the triumphant Colossus=
,=20
in the Chase/Jones apocalyptic, The Forbin Project;

               ... remains to be experienced.=20

This item is one of a collection at
https://wasd.vsm.com.au/other/#occasional