Base26
Software has always been a fusion of code and data. But for decades, we’ve been confined to two extremes.
In Software 1.0, we manually translated expert knowledge into programs, creating software artifacts that were 99% code and 1% data. In Software 2.0, a paradigm articulated by Andrej Karpathy, we automatically distilled vast datasets via training into neural network weights, creating software artifacts that were 1% code and 99% data.
The rise of Large Language Models introduces a third path, enabling us to program in the most intuitive interface of all: 26 letters of the English alphabet. As the lines between programmer and prompter, and code and data, continue to blur, an idea as old as computation itself resurfaces with a new twist: Prompt = Code = Data (, ). What will the Software 3.0 of tomorrow look like?
Base26 is building PLT (Programming Language Theory) for Software 3.0—formal abstractions for systems that move fluidly between neural and symbolic computation. We believe the most profound technological progress will come not from “better code” or “bigger data,” but from the rigorous, creative exploration of the entire spectrum between them. If you are a builder, researcher, or just plain curious, we invite you to connect ().