Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course software hasn’t been delivered fast enough. There is so so so much of the world that still needs high quality software.
I think there are four fundamental issues here for us... 1. There are actually less software jobs out there, with huge layoffs still going on, so software engineering as a profession doesn't seem to profit from AI. 2. The remaining engineers are expected by their employers to ship more. Even if they can manage that using AI, there will be higher pressure and higher stress on them, which makes their work less fulfilli…
How to effectively write quality code with AI
291–300 of 321 posts
Re: How to effectively write quality code with AI
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Learning to plan things out in your head I dont think any complex plan should be planned in your head. But drawing diagrams, sketching components, listing pros and cons, 100%. Not jumping directly into coding might look more like jumping into spec writing a poc
Maintaining a 'mental RAM Cache' is a powerful tool to understanding the system as a whole on a deep and intuitive level, even if you can only 'render' sections at a time. The bigger it is the more you can keep track of to be able to foresee interactions between distant pieces. It shouldn't be your only source of a plan as you'd likely wind up dropping something, but figuring out how to jiggle things around before ge…
Personally, for me without writing or sketching I cannot think complex things: as in complex logic, constraints, etc.
I guess this is topic too abstract, so we can read into it different things.
Re: How to effectively write quality code with AI
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
After a multi-decade career that spanned what is rapidly seeming like the golden age of software development, I have two emotions: first gratefulness; second a mixture of resignation, maudlin reflection, and bitterness that I am fighting hard to resist. As someone who’s always wanted to “get home and code something on my own”, I do have a glimmer of hope that I wonder if others share. I’ve worked extensively with Cla…
Unfortunately you aren't a high velocity builder. The velocity curve has now shifted and everyone having Claude blast out loc after loc is now a high velocity builder. And when everyone is a high velocity builder...nobody is.
Fair point, but my hope is that the creativity involved in deciding what to build, with the choice informed by engineering experience (the project/value will not be obvious to everyone) will allow differentiation.
Re: How to effectively write quality code with AI
#294Spec-driven development is the only reliable way to work with AI. That's my current understanding. I spend more time refining the spec and bouncing ideas off of AI/team than before, which is good before there can't be any incorrect assumptions or hidden variables, otherwise AI will create suboptimal code. We should have been doing this much earlier in the process, even without AI, but now it's more necessary than eve…
Sentiments like this make me wonder if perhaps the dream of the 90s was just ahead of its time. Things like UML, 4GLs, Rational were all being hyped. We were told that the future was a world where people could express the requirements & shape of the system, and the machines would do the rest. Clearly that didn't happen, and then agile took over from the more waterfall/specs based approaches, and the rest was history.…
Re: How to effectively write quality code with AI
#295Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unfortunately you aren't a high velocity builder. The velocity curve has now shifted and everyone having Claude blast out loc after loc is now a high velocity builder. And when everyone is a high velocity builder...nobody is.
“And when everyone’s super, no one will be”. Fair point, but my hope is that the creativity involved in deciding what to build, with the choice informed by engineering experience (the project/value will not be obvious to everyone) will allow differentiation.
How? Anyone upon seeing your digital product can just prompt the same thing in no time. If you can prompt it, I can prompt it and so can a million other people.
Nobody whether an individual or business holds any uniqueness or advantage to themselves. All careers and skill sets are leveled and worthless. Implementation skills are worthless. Creativity is worthless.
The only valuable thing is data.
Re: How to effectively write quality code with AI
#296Earlier quoted context omitted.
Each extra generation of AI produced crap AI consumes as training, the worse it gets. This has been mathematically proven.
Strange since, in practice, coding models have steadily improved without any backward movement every 3-4 months for 2 years now. It's as if there are rigorous methods of filtering and curation applied when building your training data.
It's as if what I wrote implies "all other things being equal", just like any technical claim.
All other things were not equal: the architectures were tweaked, the human data set is still not exhausted, and more money and energy was thrown into their performance since it's a pre-IPO game with huge VC stakes.
We've already seen a plateau non-the-less compared to the earlier release-over-release performance improvements. Even the "without any backward movement every 3-4 months for 2 years now" is hardly arguable. Many saw a backward movement with GPT 4.1 vs 4.0, and similar issues with 4.5, for example. Even if those are isolated, they're hardly the 2 to 3.5 to 4.0 gains.
And no, there are absolutely no "rigorous methods of filtering and curation" that can separate the avalance of AI slop from useful human output - at least not without diminishing the possible training data. The problem after all is not just to tell AI from human with automated curation (that's already impossible), the problem is to have enough valuable new human output, which becomes near a losing game as all aspects of "human" domains previously useful as training input (from code to papers) are tarnished by AI output.
Re: How to effectively write quality code with AI
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
The previous second order effect is more likely. For the one orchestrating 8 bots, 7 others are not needed anymore.
Or, there is just a lot more software written as the costs drop. I think most people work with software not tailored enough for their situation..
Yeah, no, that's wishful thinking. The companies will just opt for higher margins.
Re: How to effectively write quality code with AI
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
“And when everyone’s super, no one will be”. Fair point, but my hope is that the creativity involved in deciding what to build, with the choice informed by engineering experience (the project/value will not be obvious to everyone) will allow differentiation.
"creativity involved in deciding what to build, with the choice informed by engineering experience (the project/value will not be obvious to everyone) will allow differentiation." How? Anyone upon seeing your digital product can just prompt the same thing in no time. If you can prompt it, I can prompt it and so can a million other people. Nobody whether an individual or business holds any uniqueness or advantage to t…
Re: How to effectively write quality code with AI
#299Re: How to effectively write quality code with AI
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
I second this. This* is the matter against which we form understanding. This here is the work at hand, our own notes, discussions we have with people, the silent walk where our brain kinda process errors and ideas .. it's always been like this since i was a kid, playing with construction toys. I never ever wanted somebody to play while I wait to evaluate if it fits my desires. Desires that often come from playing. Ou…
I wonder over the long term how programmers are going to maintain the proficiency to read and edit the code that the LLM produces.