Short answer is: no. Yes it sounds cool. And yes, there might be some (narrow) demonstrations where voice programming is a good match. But it will not raise productivity. And therefore, it will not be used long-term.

There are several reasons for that:

Programming vs. Writing

Majority of time in programming is spent on thinking. So even if we brought writing time to zero it wouldn’t be that much of a difference.

And voice will probably increase the writing time as you will see below.

Plus every developer uses bunch of key combination shortcuts that allow them to be super productive. And pressing a key is much faster than saying things.

What would really help is rearranging the keyboard keys which would help a lot with typing speed. But unfortunately, the current layout has become a standard and it’s unlikely everyone will switch to new layout.

FUN HISTORICAL FACT:

Current keyboard design was intentionally developed to be slow for typing.

Because first keyboards were on mechanical typewriters which would jam because people would type too fast. So this layout was developed to prevent people from typing too fast.

And now we’re stuck with it.

Sound Is Distracting

Noise cancelling earphones exist for a reason. Focused noise is the worst. So before noise cancelling earphones people would just blast the music to drown out the voices in the office. But most people prefer silence.

And when you’re talking, your brain is hyper-focused on your voice instead on your thoughts.

Programming is hard. Companies are not giving high salaries for no good reason. And you need to be able to focus. And there is nothing more distracting than your own voice.

Especially when you need to hold several parts of the software in your mind and think how your code will impact those.

Not to mention it is distracting to people around you. If all programmers started using this the entire office would be loud as a bus station.

Also sometimes if you’re coding on the go, in a coffee shop or in a nice quiet restaurant, you can’t be rude and disrupt other people around you. Especially not with random variable names and symbols.

Special Symbols

By special symbols I mean #/;’=,.[]{}\ etc. All of those are easier (and faster) to just press on a keyboard instead saying their names out loud.

And those symbols are used a lot in programming.

Voice to text is a great idea if you’re a novelist or something like that. But for programming, it will not raise productivity one single bit.

AI assisted programming tools can probably help somewhat by suggesting most likely code you need. But that doesn’t have anything to do with voice programming.

Conslusion

Programming is not regular writing. It is a very special form of writing that requires very specific conditions to be successful. Mostly focus and silence. And voice programming provides neither.

P.S. -> read this article if you want to double your salary

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