> Do you know the industry term for a project specification that is comprehensive and precise enough to generate a program?
> Code, it's called code.
Obviously machines need code to execute. But humans don't need to write every line of it. Transitioning to using (future) LLMs as a programming language is transitioning from the role of a programmer to the role of a customer (or at least PM). Conversely, as a programmer (or technical manager), if your job is to extract a precise spec from a customer that doesn't know what they want, your job is exactly the one "LLMs as a programming language" are going to replace.
I actually am sympathetic to your point about the value of LLMs in programming, but more from the perspective that LLMs can help us to do the precise description gradually and interactively in a much better way that a dumb REPL.
If you think your job as implementing only specifications (in form of Jira tickets), then maybe you don’t see the difference. But more often, you’re trying to define the problem in the first as the customers can only describe the current situation and needs. The job is to design a system that could satisfy these needs and going iteratively from natural language to code, removing ambiguity in the process. Stopping midway in the process and hoping an LLM can continue down is just playing slot machine with code. And then there’s the whole system evolution and maintenance.