Nerd: A language for LLMs, not humans

Summary

The Story The Question 40% of code is now written by LLMs. That number is growing. I was using Claude Code, watching it generate TypeScript. A thought hit me: Why is Claude writing code that I'm supposed to read? I wasn't going to read it line-by-line. I'd skim it, run the tests. So why make AI write in a format optimized for human readers who aren't reading? The Stack 1950s: Machine code 1960s: Assembly 1970s: C 1980s: C++ 1990s: Java, Python 2000s: Frameworks 2020s: AI writes, humans review Each step made it easier for humans to express intent. But now AI is the primary author. AI doesn't need public static void main. The Insight LLMs tokenize English words efficiently. Symbols like {, }, === fragment into multiple tokens. Words like "plus", "minus", "if" are single tokens. So instead of cryptic compression, use dense English. The Design NERD = No Effort Required, Done Not human-friendly: dense, terse, machine-optimized Human-observable: auditable, verifiable 50-70% fewer tokens: same logic, less cost Native compilation: LLVM, no runtime The Result fn add a b ret a plus b fn calc a b op if op eq zero ret ok a plus b if op eq one ret ok a minus b ret err "unknown" 67% fewer tokens than TypeScript. Same functionality. The Workflow Human: "Add rate limiting" | LLM writes NERD | Compiles to native | Human observes (read-only) | Human: "Make it 100 req/min" | LLM modifies NERD Humans are stakeholders, not authors. The Objections "But I need to debug!" Do you debug JVM bytecode? V8's internals? No. You debug at your abstraction layer. If that layer is natural language, debugging becomes: "Hey Claude, the login is failing for users with + in their email." "Compliance requires readable code!" Auditable != authored by humans. A translated view can show data flow, constraints, security measures, in plain English. More auditable than 2am spaghetti code. The Bet In five years, most production code won't be human-written. When that happens, TypeScript will feel like asking Cla...