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Ask HN: I hate coding agents. Is this skill issue?

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Re: Ask HN: I hate coding agents. Is this skill issue?

#31

Post by ok1984 »

cmar00 wrote: post #28
ok1984 wrote: post #26

My process is becoming as follows: 1) I always start with a clean code base (ie. no uncommitted changes) 2) I have a text file called prompts in which I write my first prompt for my desired change, in the initial prompt I always explicitly ask to NOT generate unit tests. 3) Copy paste the prompt to the cli 4) While the LLM is working on my prompt I go back to my prompts file and start preparing the next prompts that…

Thank you for your suggestion. Going straight to the next prompt while the agent is still working will probably help me stay in flow state longer. However I'll still have to context switch when checking the code. Nonetheless, I'll experiment with this, thanks!

Yes, its like when you are chatting with somebody and due to the async process somehow you start chatting about two things in parallel (maybe it’s only me),

Anyhow, I think that you can keep in the flow as long as the successive prompts are still related to the major change if not then I guess you deserve a stop and pause before moving on with the next task.

Re: Ask HN: I hate coding agents. Is this skill issue?

#32

Post by ok1984 »

imhoguy wrote: post #27
ok1984 wrote: post #26

My process is becoming as follows: 1) I always start with a clean code base (ie. no uncommitted changes) 2) I have a text file called prompts in which I write my first prompt for my desired change, in the initial prompt I always explicitly ask to NOT generate unit tests. 3) Copy paste the prompt to the cli 4) While the LLM is working on my prompt I go back to my prompts file and start preparing the next prompts that…

Quite similar, but I ask for "/grilling" skill in every prompt so the agent aligns to my decissions before it drifts into own. And I actually ask to make tests before any implementation and let them all fail.

TDD advocates would be proud of you ;) differently from your approach I still prefer to make sure the model code is inline with my expectations and only then ask for unit tests, only exception is when I am dealing with a bug then the failing unit test is a MUST.

Re: Ask HN: I hate coding agents. Is this skill issue?

#33

Post by ericmaciver »

I used to watch a window code - each line - but that was too much. I ended up just making sure adversarial reviews are performed for every task, a completion report generated to my personal preferences and then I feed multiple tasks through an an orchestrator that keeps the high-level context in play, which aligns work with my objectives before merging it. It knows my preferences, and runs audits itself, along with automated tests. It took a long time to tweak it to a point where I can stay involved in the choices and code while maximizing throughput - but the work put into the ecosystem has (so far) paid off.

Re: Ask HN: I hate coding agents. Is this skill issue?

#34

Post by cmar00 »

ericmaciver wrote: post #33

I used to watch a window code - each line - but that was too much. I ended up just making sure adversarial reviews are performed for every task, a completion report generated to my personal preferences and then I feed multiple tasks through an an orchestrator that keeps the high-level context in play, which aligns work with my objectives before merging it. It knows my preferences, and runs audits itself, along with a…

Wow this feels next level! So you only talk to the orchestrator, then it calls sub agents to do the actual work, review and realign. Got a few questions for you:

- Which tools did you use to create this ecosystem?

- Do you write the tests yourself? Do you tell it which tests to write? Or does it guess them on its own based on his understanding of your preferences? How do you make sure the generated code is secure?

- As you give orders to the orchestrator and as the orchestrator gives orders to sub agents your original message might get distorted (similar to when you print a copy of a copy of a copy with your printer). Do you ever find subagents going off topic in an endless code/review/code/review loop?

Re: Ask HN: I hate coding agents. Is this skill issue?

#35

Post by ericmaciver »

cmar00 wrote: post #34
ericmaciver wrote: post #33

I used to watch a window code - each line - but that was too much. I ended up just making sure adversarial reviews are performed for every task, a completion report generated to my personal preferences and then I feed multiple tasks through an an orchestrator that keeps the high-level context in play, which aligns work with my objectives before merging it. It knows my preferences, and runs audits itself, along with a…

Wow this feels next level! So you only talk to the orchestrator, then it calls sub agents to do the actual work, review and realign. Got a few questions for you: - Which tools did you use to create this ecosystem? - Do you write the tests yourself? Do you tell it which tests to write? Or does it guess them on its own based on his understanding of your preferences? How do you make sure the generated code is secure? -…

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