Cause & Effect 10: Software engineering in the age of AI

The speakers argue that coding agents change the value of software engineering without removing programming languages or experienced judgment. Cheap code makes building blocks, system structure, verification, and control of complexity more important. 07:47 30:06 44:51

They connect Effect and ZIO’s properties needed in running applications to agent-written work, and discuss making quality rules executable through types, linting, and review. 50:14 52:26 58:23

Sources

  1. Software Engineering in the Age of AI || John De Goes || Cause & Effect 10 - YouTube. John De Goes, Michael Arnaldi, and Johannes Schickling. Recording; used for engineering judgment and executable quality rules as code gets cheaper. Accessed 2026-10-01.

Last changed 2026-10-07 in 0e2d656. Source on GitHub. Change log.

Linked from

  1. Agent guide. An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush.
    Link context

    Cause & Effect 10: Software engineering in the age of AI — John De Goes, Michael Arnaldi, and Johannes Schickling discuss engineering judgment as code gets cheaper.

  2. Change log. What changed in the files served here, newest first.

    Cause & Effect 10: Software engineering in the age of AI — edited: feat(learn): teach cards 23 to 42 with plain lines, diagrams and snippets

  3. Effect's design lineage. Michael Arnaldi describes Effect's path from financial software needs through ZIO influence and TypeScript iterations.

    See Effect Days 2024 and Cause & Effect 10.¶

  4. Full agent guide. An Effect stack so pure (aspirational) Kit Langton will blush.
  5. Rat Stack lore | rat-stack. Short, source-grounded notes on the ideas and decisions behind rat-stack.
    Link context

    Cause & Effect 10: Software engineering in the age of AI — John De Goes, Michael Arnaldi, and Johannes Schickling discuss engineering judgment as code gets cheaper.

  6. Source change history (log.md). The generated change log as Markdown.

    Cause & Effect 10: Software engineering in the age of AI — edited: feat(learn): teach cards 23 to 42 with plain lines, diagrams and snippets