AI Is Making Hard Programming Languages the New Default
The dynamics of selecting programming languages are evolving as AI agents demonstrate proficiency in systems languages such as Go and Rust. By April 2026, models like GPT-5.5, Claude Opus 4.7, Gemini 3.1, and DeepSeek V4 achieved over 80% on SWE-bench Verified. Microsoft revamped the TypeScript compiler using Go, launching the TypeScript 7.0 beta much quicker than its predecessor, 6.0. Nicholas Carlini from Anthropic employed 16 Claude agents to develop a C compiler in Rust for less than $20,000. In just two weeks, Steve Klabnik created a new systems language named Rue with Claude. OpenAI purchased Astral in March 2026, while Anthropic previously acquired Bun. The Rust language is becoming increasingly integral to the Python ecosystem, with Astral's tools racking up millions of downloads.
Key facts
- By April 2026, Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.5, Gemini 3.1, and DeepSeek V4 all surpassed 80% on SWE-bench Verified.
- Microsoft rewrote the TypeScript compiler in Go, shipping TypeScript 7.0 beta roughly 10x faster than 6.0.
- Nicholas Carlini orchestrated 16 Claude agents to write a production C compiler in Rust for under $20,000.
- Steve Klabnik built the Rue systems language in two weeks with Claude, producing 70,000 lines of Rust.
- Andreas Kling ported Ladybird's JavaScript engine from C++ to Rust in two weeks with Claude Code and Codex.
- OpenAI acquired Astral in March 2026; Anthropic acquired Bun ten weeks earlier.
- Armin Ronacher ported MiniJinja from Rust to Go in 45 minutes of human time via an agent.
- Astral's ruff, uv, and ty reached hundreds of millions of monthly downloads.
Entities
Institutions
- Microsoft
- Anthropic
- OpenAI
- Vercel
- Astral
- JetBrains
- GitLab
- Stack Overflow