Arf

Some say never. Higher level programs use libraries of code which the program(ers) accesses. These blocks of code or “functions” make writing code to do common tasks unnecessary. Your program goes outside itself, runs the function, then uses the result within itself.

It’s only intuitive but I can imagine code that uses logic to access the library functions. The query would be answered as pathways to the libraries return the combination of functions that satisfy the query.

The holdup must be the current state of hardware. I don’t really know. But there are enough smart people out there to write the code.

You can even have the computer give answers in plain English
One of the first Programs to do this was “Lisa”. It was written and installed on a university mainframe (I don’t remember which U). It recognized keywords and cobbled sentences together.

The program was open to the student body (using workstations)and interesting enough, there was so much traffic on the network that the school had to limit its use.

You’re still giving the computer a task and inputting data. Because of this
I think the machines in Terminator and “HAL” in 2001 a Space Odyssey will remain in the fictional realm. But who knows, we seems to do pretty good at building what we can imagine.

Obviously at that point computers will be designed by computers to run programs written by computers. And Man is the one telling these computers what the outcomes should be.

I suppose that will be necessary when nanotechnology is far enough along that every nanotech product will have to be organized atom by atom, for instance.

Interesting problem, those computers will be.

Arf