51–60 of 77 posts
In complete irony, I got back to reading actual docs for Python, React, Scala (my stacks) because I do NOT like being spoon-fed slightly-off answers. I have a feeling that the skills for fixing up AI slop will be in-demand quite soon. But, more to the point - AI code is legacy code.
This is a really good post. I'm a naturally controlling person, and I care about my craft a lot, so even in my recent dabbling (on a ~3000 LOC project) with agentic coding, one of the things I naturally did from the start was not just skim the diffs that the AI generated, but decide for myself what technologies should be used, describe the logic and architecture of the code I wanted in detail — to keep my mental mode…
I've always had a subscription to both ChatGPT and Claude, but Claude has recently almost one-shotted major toxic waste dumps from the previous models.
I'll still use ChatGPT, it seems to be pretty good at algorithms, and bouncing ideas back and forth. but when things go off the rails Opus 4.1 bails me out.
Their ability to look correct exceeds their ability to be correct. Optimized for form more than function. Like politicians and management at large companies. Like the rote student who can be correct, but wont know why. Being fair though, it is a useful tool among many others in our toolbox.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I suspect as you do more, you will create dev guides and testing guides that can encapsulate more of that direction so you won't need to micromanage it. Definitely. Prompt adherence to stuff that's in an AGENTS/QWEN/CLAUDE/GEMINI.md is not perfect ime though. >If you used Gemini CLI, you picked the coding agent with the worst output. So if you got something that worked to your liking, you should try Claude. I'm awa…
You can use Claude Code against Kimi K2, DeepSeek, Qwen, etc. The 20$ a month plan gets you access to a token amount of sonnet for coding, but that wouldn't be indicative of how people are using it. https://gist.github.com/WolframRavenwolf/0ee85a65b10e1a442e4... We gave Gemini CLI a spin, it is kinda unhinged, I am impressed you were able to get your results. After reading through the Gemini CLI codebase, it appears…
Yeah but I wouldn't get a generous free tier, and I am Poor lmao.
> I am impressed you were able to get your results
compared to my brief stint with OpenCode and Claude Code with claude code router, qwen-code (which is basically a carbon copy of gemini cli) is indeed unhinged, and worse than the other options, but if you baby it just right you can get stuff done lol
In recent weeks, I have made huge changes to my main codebase. Pretty sweeping stuff, things that would have taken me months to get right. Both big, architecturally important things, as well as minor housekeeping tasks. None of it could have been done without AI, yet I am somehow inclined to agree with the sentiment in this article. Most of what I've done lately is, in some strange sense, just typing quickly. I alrea…
In recent weeks, I have made huge changes to my main codebase. Pretty sweeping stuff, things that would have taken me months to get right. Both big, architecturally important things, as well as minor housekeeping tasks. None of it could have been done without AI, yet I am somehow inclined to agree with the sentiment in this article. Most of what I've done lately is, in some strange sense, just typing quickly. I alrea…
And it's not just complacence.. this illusion of mastery cuts even harder for those who haven't really developed the skills to do a review of the code. And, some code is just easier to write than it is to read, or easier to generate with confidence using an automata or some macro-level code, which often the LLMs will not produce, in preference to repeated-in-various-styles inlining of sub-solutions, unless you have enough mastery to know how to ask for the appropriate abstraction and would still rather not just write the deterministic version.
> I wonder, is there a danger to giving the tool to a new apprentice? If I send my kid off to learn coding using the AI, will it be a mess
I don't think there's anything wrong with holding back on access to LLM code generators but that's like saying no access to any modern LLMs at this point, so maybe that's too restrictive; tbh I'm glad that's not a decision I'm having to make for any young person these days. But separate from that you can still encourage a status quo of due diligence for any code that gets generated.
There used to be a time when you needed to be very skilled woodworker in order to make nice cabinets. There still are, but the number of machine / CNC made cabinets outnumber artisanal 100% hand-made cabinets by some incredible number. For every masterpiece made by a Japanese cabinet maker, imagine how many Ikea cabinets there are out there... And that's how I believe software engineering will end up. Hand crafted co…
Your analogy doesn't work at all.
(I know this because my previous landlady's husband was a CNC machine operator.)
There used to be a time when you needed to be very skilled woodworker in order to make nice cabinets. There still are, but the number of machine / CNC made cabinets outnumber artisanal 100% hand-made cabinets by some incredible number. For every masterpiece made by a Japanese cabinet maker, imagine how many Ikea cabinets there are out there... And that's how I believe software engineering will end up. Hand crafted co…
Those CNC-made cabinets are driven by software written by a human being. And I'm not talking about the CNC software itself: CNC machine operators _code_, even if it's not obvious to those who don't know somebody who works with CNC machines. They provide descriptions to the machine in the form of M-Code and G-Code. Your analogy doesn't work at all. (I know this because my previous landlady's husband was a CNC machine…
What takes more time to master: Learning how to be a competent woodworker, so that you can build a piece of complex furniture from scratch, by hand. Or learning how to punch in instructions, following templates.
The first can take years to master, the latter is done in mere months. You don't need to be a master woodworker to operate a CNC machine.
With LLMs, we're now at the point where non-programmers can get working CRUD apps. Nearly impossible only 2 years ago. LLMs are encroaching what is the bread and butter to thousands of webdevs out in the world.
You can still be a rock star dev that writes world class code, but you better be working for employers that value it - because AI will force prices down. When customers discover that a $20 subscription, or service can create them things that would previously cost thousands of dollars in dev money, there's no way back. Once that cat is out of the bag, you won't get it back in.
This is a really good post. I'm a naturally controlling person, and I care about my craft a lot, so even in my recent dabbling (on a ~3000 LOC project) with agentic coding, one of the things I naturally did from the start was not just skim the diffs that the AI generated, but decide for myself what technologies should be used, describe the logic and architecture of the code I wanted in detail — to keep my mental mode…
Something I've noticed recently, is the new Opus 4.1 model seems to be incredibly good at getting out of these cul-de-sacs. I've always had a subscription to both ChatGPT and Claude, but Claude has recently almost one-shotted major toxic waste dumps from the previous models. I'll still use ChatGPT, it seems to be pretty good at algorithms, and bouncing ideas back and forth. but when things go off the rails Opus 4.1 b…