Write code like a human will maintain it • Hacker News Board

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#21

Post by carimura » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:06 PM UTC

schnebbau wrote: post #7

That sounds like a good idea, but shipping 10x as many features and bugfixes sounds better. I started using AI with the best intentions. Checking everything before committing. Improving output by hand if it didn't quite follow the existing code style guidelines or variables were not named as well as they should be. Or if it did something sloppy or hacky. Now, AI GOES BURRRRRRRRRRRR! If the tests pass it's good to shi…

I find myself doing this but then I worry that the slop will just compound and 3, 6, 12 months from now as my services scale I'll have a harder time operating them. Maybe I'm wrong.

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#22

Post by OtherShrezzing » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:06 PM UTC

Invictus0 wrote: post #4

[flagged]

It's unlikely that AI will get to the point where it makes handwritten coders redundant, and then not immediately be at the point where vibe coders are redundant too. So if you earnestly take the position that handwriting code is a "ngmi" type activity, you also need to take the position that the vibe coder (or agent- assisted-developer/loop-architect, or whatever its nom de guerre is this week) is "ngmi".

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#23

Post by bdcravens » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

BadBadJellyBean wrote: post #18

bdcravens wrote: post #16

Humans have been writing unmaintainable code well before LLMs came along.

But LLMs can do it much faster and more consistently.

They had good teachers. :-)

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#24

Post by pauletienney » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

matt_kantor wrote: post #13

schnebbau wrote: post #7

That sounds like a good idea, but shipping 10x as many features and bugfixes sounds better. I started using AI with the best intentions. Checking everything before committing. Improving output by hand if it didn't quite follow the existing code style guidelines or variables were not named as well as they should be. Or if it did something sloppy or hacky. Now, AI GOES BURRRRRRRRRRRR! If the tests pass it's good to shi…

How long has "so far" been?

I second that question

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#25

Post by jdw64 » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

Always code as if the guy who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live. Code for readability.

— John F. Woods (1991)

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#26

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:08 PM UTC

Invictus0 wrote: post #4

[flagged]

[deleted]

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#27

Post by ing33k » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC

And hope it works?

I’m pretty sure many people who use AI to write emails or blog posts add "make it sound like a human wrote it" to their prompts. We all know what the result usually looks like.

If AI is writing my code, I'd rather have it focus purely on correctness and efficiency than on making the code easy to read.

heck! I might even ask it to imitate Arthur Whitney’s style.

/s

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#28

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:10 PM UTC

carimura wrote: post #19

I continually run codebases through different models to have them look for bad code smells like repeated code. That's been pretty effective. You do have to maintain over time or else you end up with a sloppy mess which I can only imagine compounds.

[deleted]

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#29

Post by cadamsdotcom » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:11 PM UTC

Write yourself a /review command. That is an empty markdown file at `.claude/commands/review.md`. In it, put a checklist of things the agent should look for. When you’re ready to have your agent review the code, type `/review`. The checklist will be examined and it’ll plan out some findings to ask you if you want them fixed.

Mine starts with “Enter plan mode. Examine the differences on this branch vs. main. Consider: ...” and proceeds to a bullet list of things.

Any time I notice something in code review and have to get the agent to fix it.. I throw it on the list!

My list is like 200 items now. Know what? Agents don’t care that they just got a wall of generic feedback, they happily look into all the bullet points.

I added “ensure the new things aren’t duplicating code that already exists elsewhere” and it gave me such a surprise - it really truly started planning cleanups!

We are just scratching the surface. We have to give tools to our tools so they can use them to be better tools for us.

Re: Write code like a human will maintain it

#30

Post by cmrdporcupine » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 2:11 PM UTC

carimura wrote: post #21

schnebbau wrote: post #7

That sounds like a good idea, but shipping 10x as many features and bugfixes sounds better. I started using AI with the best intentions. Checking everything before committing. Improving output by hand if it didn't quite follow the existing code style guidelines or variables were not named as well as they should be. Or if it did something sloppy or hacky. Now, AI GOES BURRRRRRRRRRRR! If the tests pass it's good to shi…

I find myself doing this but then I worry that the slop will just compound and 3, 6, 12 months from now as my services scale I'll have a harder time operating them. Maybe I'm wrong.

The bigger problem is the number of things you don't understand will grow substantially from under your feet, and then you'll slip on it.