[laquition]

Basic programming is quickly becoming antiquated and articles like this, and many of the commenters are stuck in the past.

The efficiency of ML is in cost, not overall computation. Throwing machine resources at a problem is cheaper than hiring some guru with the necessary math and CS background to solve the problem.

We've seen the same thing with frameworks/libraries. Before it took specialized knowledge to do basic things like networking, media creation, etc. in code. Now there are existing tools that do everything for you.

The same has happened with optimization/algorithmic knowledge, and the genie is not going back in the bottle. There will definitely be specialized cases where that particular expertise is needed, but that is no longer the norm.