A software library with no code

Original post: A software library with no code

This is an interesting concept made possible by LLMs.

Drew Breunig is releasing a library that consists only of a specification file. You can then have the library implemented in your favorite programming language by using this prompt:

Implement the whenwords library in [LANGUAGE].

1. Read SPEC.md for complete behavior specification
2. Parse tests.yaml and generate a test file
3. Implement all five functions: timeago, duration, parse_duration,
   human_date, date_range
4. Run tests until all pass
5. Place implementation in [LOCATION]

All tests.yaml test cases must pass. See SPEC.md "Testing" section
for test generation examples.

Drew also asks himself if this could be the future and if we still need libraries with code.

The answer he gave is yes, we still need them:

  1. When Performance Matters
  2. When Testing is Complicated
  3. When You Need to Provide Support & Bug Fixes
  4. When Updates Matter
  5. When Community & Interoperability Matter