maybe writing code is cheap . But writing unit tests that actually test stuff that matters is suddenly so much more important and expensive.
Writing code is cheap now
131–140 of 522 posts
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#132Understanding computers and programming is not the same as coding.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#133Earlier quoted context omitted.
AI has been a lifesaver for my low performing coworkers. They’re still heavily reliant on reviews, but their output is up. One of the lowest output guys I ever worked with is a massive LinkedIn LLM promoter. Not sure how long it’ll last though. With the time I spend on reviews I could have done it myself, so if they don’t start learning…
> With the time I spend on reviews I could have done it myself, so if they don’t start learning… Then? Your job is still to review their code. If they are your coworker, you can not fire them.
Then just start rubber-stamping their code. Say you "vibe" read it.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#134> Code has always been expensive. Producing a few hundred lines of clean, tested code takes most software developers a full day or more. Many of our engineering habits, at both the macro and micro level, are built around this core constraint. > ... > Writing good code remains significantly more expensive I think this is a bad argument. Code was expensive because you were trying to write the expensive good code in the…
Code is cheaper. Simple code is cheap. More complex code may not be cheaper.
The reason you pay attention to details is because complexity compounds and the cheapest cleanup is when you write something, not when it breaks.
This last part is still not fully fleshed out.
For now. Is there any reason to not expect things to improve further?
Regardless, a lot of code is cheap now and building products is fun regardless, but I doubt this will translate into more than very short-term benefits. When you lower the bar you get 10x more stuff, 10x more noise, etc. You lower it more you get 100x and so on.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#135Writing code has been cheap for a while now. Writing good software is still expensive. It's going to take everybody a while to figure that out (just like with outsourcing)
Dollars to donuts that at some point someone is going to discover that senior engineers spend just as much time reviewing, fixing, and dealing with blowups caused by, shitty AI-generated code produced by more junior coders....as they did providing various forms of mentoring of said junior coders, except those junior coders become better developers in the latter case, whereas the AI generates the same shitty results or even worse, inconsistent quality code.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#136Code 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…
Or another way of looking at it: just because digging a ditch became cheap and fast with the backhoe doesn't mean you can just dig a bunch of ditches and become rich.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#137Code 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…
Or another way of looking at it: just because digging a ditch became cheap and fast with the backhoe doesn't mean you can just dig a bunch of ditches and become rich.
Yeah but there were a lot less ditch diggers in the world after the invention of the backhoe
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#138i’ve yet to see an agent that can take a figma design and produce high fidelity UI
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#139The interesting thing nobody's talking about here is that cheap code generation actually makes throwaway prototypes viable. Before, you'd agonize over architecture because rewriting was expensive. Now you can build three different approaches in a day and pick the one that works. The real cost was never the code itself. It was the decision-making around what to build. That hasn't gotten cheaper at all.
This feels to me like peak sfba mentality on par with "move fast and break things". Outside of trying to create a unicorn, is this really how people create things?
It seems to me that in order to obtain the ability to build things that other people like, you need to go through the process of creating things they won't. Like a painter needs to paint a bunch of crappy paintings to learn how to create a good painting. If you have the LLM create these throwaway prototypes, how will you even know when you come across a good idea and how will you be able to build it.
Re: Writing code is cheap now
#140Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or another way of looking at it: just because digging a ditch became cheap and fast with the backhoe doesn't mean you can just dig a bunch of ditches and become rich.
Yeah but there were a lot less ditch diggers in the world after the invention of the backhoe
If true, only because people knew where to dig and did it with purpose.