Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I am happier writing code by hand

abhinavomprakash.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 334 posts

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#31

Post by softwaredoug »

Even if Claude writes 100% code, I think there will be a bifurcation between people who are finicky about 10 lines of code. And those finicky about high level product experiences.

I think the 10 lines of code people worry their jobs now become obsolete. In cases where the code required googling how to do X with Y technology, that's true. That's just going to be trivially solvable. And it will cause us to not need as many developers.

In my experience though, the 10 lines of finicky code use case usually has specific attributes:

1. You don't have well defined requirements. We're discovering correctness as we go. We 'code' to think how to solve the problem, adding / removing / changing tests as we go.

2. The constraints / correctness of this code is extremely multifaceted. It simultaneously matters for it to be fast, correct, secure, easy to use, etc

3. We're adapting a general solution (ie a login flow) to our specific company or domain. And the latter requires us to provide careful guidance to the LLM to get the right output

It may be Claude Code around these fewer bits of code, but in these cases its still important to have taste and care with code details itself.

We may weirdly be in a case where it's possible to single-shot a slack clone, but taking time to change the 2 small features we care about is time consuming and requires thoughtfulness.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#32

Post by ngruhn »

woeirua wrote: post #5

This is no different then carpentry. Yes, all furniture can now be built by machines. Some people still choose to build it by hand. Does that make them less productive? Yes. Will they ever carve furniture by hand for a business? Probably not. Can they still enjoy the act of working with the wood? Yes. If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you. But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do…

> If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you.

There are few skills that are both fun and highly valued. It's disheartening if it stops being highly valued, even if you can still do it in private.

> But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do that professionally for much longer.

I'm not pretending. I'm only sad.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#33

Post by Trasmatta »

woeirua wrote: post #5

This is no different then carpentry. Yes, all furniture can now be built by machines. Some people still choose to build it by hand. Does that make them less productive? Yes. Will they ever carve furniture by hand for a business? Probably not. Can they still enjoy the act of working with the wood? Yes. If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you. But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do…

I'm tired of the carpentry analogy. It feels like a thought stopping cliche, because it's used in every thread where this topic comes up. It misses the fact that coding is fundamentally different, and that there are still distinct advantages to writing at least some code by hand, both for the individual and the company.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#34

Post by DrewADesign »

eddythompson80 wrote: post #12

It really depends on the project for me. For example,I never enjoyed writing react code (or really any UI), just the outcome of my idea materializing in a usable interface. There is nothing creative or fun for me in almost any UX framework. It’s just a ton of predictable typing (now we need a fricking box. And another box. And another stupid box…) I’m more than happy outsourcing that. However, my thoughts are too ran…

My gut says waning demand for labor in the dev job market removes your boss’s incentive to factor in what you enjoy or are interested in doing.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#35

Post by hirako2000 »

rpodraza wrote: post #15
ramesh31 wrote: post #3

I also came to a pretty simple understanding over the years. If I'm coding and making progress on a project, I'm happy. If I'm not, or I'm stuck on something, I'm unhappy. This is a profoundly unhealthy way to live because life will pass you by. There is more to our existence than work, or even hobbies. And if AI lets me get more time for that, I am happier than ever.

This is great in theory, but answer me sincerely: are you spending less time at work because of AI? Because I reckon for most programmers here it is not the case at all.

There certainly are many who create a bit more PR. Ai generated. So they can roll their thumb for most of the day.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#37

Post by Trasmatta »

neversupervised wrote: post #27

Dev happiness is not the determining factor of how software will be written at scale

I hate the implication that the happiness of employees is of no consequence and must be sacrificed for...whatever software is being produced.

But I guess that's nothing new.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#39

Post by pydry »

woeirua wrote: post #5

This is no different then carpentry. Yes, all furniture can now be built by machines. Some people still choose to build it by hand. Does that make them less productive? Yes. Will they ever carve furniture by hand for a business? Probably not. Can they still enjoy the act of working with the wood? Yes. If you want to code by hand, then do it! No one's stopping you. But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do…

The nail in the coffin moment for me when i realized AI had turned into a full blown cult was when people started equating a "hand crafted artisinal" piece of software used by a million people with hand crafted artisinal chair used by their grandma.

The cult has its origins in taylorism - a sort of investor religion dedicated to the idea that all economic activity will eventually be boiled down to ownership and unskilled labor.

Re: I am happier writing code by hand

#40

Post by grayhatter »

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #25
rf15 wrote: post #9

This is pointing out one factor of vibecoding that is talked about too little: that it feels good, and that this feeling often clouds people's judgment on what is actually achieved (i.e. you lost control of the code and are running more and more frictionless on hopes and dreams)

Conversely I feel like this is talked about a lot. I think this is a sort of essential cognitive dissonance that is present in many scenarios we're already beyond comfortable with, such as hiring consultants or off-shoring or adopting the latest hot framework. We are a species that likes things that feel good even if they're bad for us. We don't stand a chance and we know it.

> We don't stand a chance and we know it.

Drugs, alcoholism, overeating, orgies, doom scrolling, gambling.

Addictions are a problem or danger to humans, no doubt. But we don't stand a chance? I'm not sure the evidence supports your argument.

Post reply on HN