[pwperl]

Computer programming is inherently a skill that tends towards full automation like any other field of labor simply because of exponential increases in efficiencies and scale. If one programmer can do the job of 5 programmers because the level of automation and the number of available tools allows him to, then the total number of programmers able to enter the market for programming will diminish unless demand for programmers rises at the same or higher rate of automation (a trend that has never occurred in any industry). We're probably not very close to that point just yet, but it may not be too far off.