Code is cheap is the same as saying "Buying on credit is easy". Code is a liability, not an asset.
Writing code is cheap now
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Re: Writing code is cheap now
#22I'm going to shill my own writing here [1] but I think it addresses this post in a different way. Because we can now write code so much faster and quicker, everything downstream from that is just not ready for it. Right now we might have to slow down, but medium and long term we need to figure out how to build systems in a way that it can keep up with this increased influx of code. > The challenge is to develop new p…
One of the most interesting aspects is when LLMs are cheap and small enough so that apps can ship with a builtin one so that it can adjust code for each user based on input/usage patterns.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#23[flagged]
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#24Code generation is cheap in the same way talk is cheap. Every human can string words together, but there's a world of difference between words that raise $100M and words that get you slapped in the face. The raw material was always cheap. The skill is turning it into something useful. Agentic engineering is just the latest version of that. The new skill is mastering the craft of directing cheap inputs toward valuable…
Indeed: The act of actually typing the code into an editor was never the hard or valuable part of software engineering. The value comes from being able to design applications that work well, with reasonable performance and security properties.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#25I don't agree that the code is cheap. It doesn't require a pipeline of people to be trained and that is huge, but it's not cheap. Tokens are expensive. We don't know what the actual cost is yet. We have startups, who aren't turning a profit, buying up all the capacity of the supply chain. There are so many impacts here that we don't have the data on.
Writing code is cheaper than ever. Maintaining it is exactly the same as ever and it scales with the LOC. Code is still liability but it's undeniable that going from thought to running code is very cheap today.
You completely ignored the post you're replying to.
To recap, the author disagrees that writing code is cheap, because we've collectively invested trillions of dollars and redirected entire supply chains into automating code generation. The externalities will be paid for generations to come by all of humanity; it's just not reflected in your Claude subscription.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#26One of the biggest challenges right now in my opinion is disambiguating what processes _were_ necessary from those that are _still_ necessary and useful in light of exactly this.
Not necessary: stand up meetings.
If your code output has been devalued then the strategy of lowering your input as a person might not be the best approach.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#27Code generation is cheap in the same way talk is cheap. Every human can string words together, but there's a world of difference between words that raise $100M and words that get you slapped in the face. The raw material was always cheap. The skill is turning it into something useful. Agentic engineering is just the latest version of that. The new skill is mastering the craft of directing cheap inputs toward valuable…
Raising $100M doesn’t even mean you have a good idea or an idea people like or an idea you can even make money on.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#28[dead]
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#29> It’s simple and minimal
This. All LLM code I saw so far was lots of abstraction to the point that it’s hard to maintain.
It is testable for sure, but the complications cost is so high.
Something else that is not addressed in the article is working within enterprise env where new technologies are adopted in much slower paces compared to startups. LLMs come with strange and complicated patterns to solve these problems, which is understandable as I would imagine all training and tuning were following structured frameworks
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
Writing code is cheaper than ever. Maintaining it is exactly the same as ever and it scales with the LOC. Code is still liability but it's undeniable that going from thought to running code is very cheap today.
Maintaining it is becoming more costly. The increasing burden of review on FOSS maintainers is one example. AWS going down because an agent decided to re-write a piece of critical infrastructure is another. We are rapidly creating new kinds of liability.
This burden of review will go down as FOSS maintainers involve AI more.