The OP didn't say what it is they're talking about that should be done before writing any code.
He might have meant design, and I'm not sure about that.
But the other thing i think of is: Understanding the problem.
It's hard to do too much of that before you start coding, and easy to do too little.
It overlaps with design to some extent, because once you understand the problem better, some designs will naturally seem inappropriate or better -- without having to spend time allocated to "designing" necessarily, just when you design you're going to come up with things that work a lot better the better you understand the problem you are trying to solve.
How the stakeholders see it, and what's really going on, and why it's a problem, and what would make an acceptable solution, and what the next steps down the road might be.
Right, by your interpretation what they suggested is logically impossible (one can't possibly write any code, let alone most, before one writes a single line of code), so I understand you think they should have written differently, but its clear they meant something else, I would assume they meant programming as a synonym for software development, right.
He might have meant design, and I'm not sure about that.
But the other thing i think of is: Understanding the problem.
It's hard to do too much of that before you start coding, and easy to do too little.
It overlaps with design to some extent, because once you understand the problem better, some designs will naturally seem inappropriate or better -- without having to spend time allocated to "designing" necessarily, just when you design you're going to come up with things that work a lot better the better you understand the problem you are trying to solve.
How the stakeholders see it, and what's really going on, and why it's a problem, and what would make an acceptable solution, and what the next steps down the road might be.