There's been a lot of speculation about a future where you tell your computer, "Build me a website like ____", then head off for lunch - and by the time you return, it's done. Maybe even launched.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I'm not even sure whether having that kind of technology is a good thing or a bad thing.
But one thing's for sure: I don't want to sit back and do nothing while companies like Google and Microsoft take ownership of the web development industry. If it's going to happen, we should be the ones pushing the technology forward - not some faceless big tech giant.
So let's talk about automated, AI-driven web development.
If it ever becomes a reality, the AI system behind it won't be using bloated, "me too" frameworks cluttered with Composer nonsense. Those frameworks are far too complicated and disorganised.
An AI-friendly system needs a framework that's genuinely simple and highly "teachable" - something that an AI system can understand and work with easily. And when it builds modules or features, it helps enormously if they're completely self-contained - with all files neatly tucked inside a single folder.
Trongate is the only PHP framework I know that's up to the task. I honestly believe we're in the ideal position to become the framework of choice for automated, AI-driven web development.
But a few sacrifices will be necessary. The key is to simplify even more.
Modules currently bundled with the framework - like "Trongate Tokens", "Trongate Pages", etc. - will need to be stripped out. Instead of shipping with the core, they'll become optional extras (free, of course). We'll also have to move away from MySQL/MariaDB dependency. The result? A radically - maybe even outrageously - simple framework. The future Trongate might ship with just one module: a minimal "welcome" module.
I see the future of Trongate as something like CodeIgniter v1 - but with an even smaller footprint.
To the untrained eye, it might look like we're dumbing things down or moving backwards. But in reality, we're building a framework that can work seamlessly with the world's most powerful AI systems. Trongate can be the go-to framework for fully automated, AI-driven web development.
And best of all? We can do it with little or no breaking changes.
Become a reductionist.
DC