Ruby on Rails Creator Declares 'Pencils Down' on Handwritten Code

Ruby on Rails creator DHH says 'we're done' writing code by hand

David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails, told a room of developers at the Rails World keynote that his software company has effectively banned hand-written code. We're done writing...

Ruby on Rails creator declares 'pencils down' on handwritten code

David Heinemeier Hansson said his software firm was "done writing code by hand." His company will only hand-write code when an AI agent can't.

DHH Declares End of Hand-Writing Code at Rails World 2026

Controversial developer David Heinemeier Hansson (aka DHH) announced last week at Rails World 2026 that the end of handwritten code is upon us, calling it the modern era’s “Brownie” moment. The moment to which he referred was when Kodak released its Brownie camera that forever changed the trajectory of photography. In this case, the Brownie […]

Ruby on Rails creator DHH says he's done writing code by hand

David Heinemeier Hansson, creator of Ruby on Rails, has quit writing code by hand after 25 years. He says he hasn't typed a single line since March 2026. "English is a better programming language than Ruby," DHH told the audience at Rails World 2026. Just a year ago, he was pushing back against AI coding. Now he calls it "the biggest thing that has happened in the history of computing." The article Ruby on Rails creator DHH says he's done writin…