> The marginal cost of adding new software is approaching zero, especially with LLMs. But what is the price of understanding, testing, and trusting that code? Higher than ever.
I’m not sure about that: the code LLMs generate isn’t categorically worse than that written by people who no longer work here and that I can’t ask anything to either. It’s also not much better or worse than what you’d find online but has a more broad reach than my Google-fu, alongside some hallucinations. At the same time, AI doesn’t hate writing tests because it doesn’t get a choice. It doesn’t get breaks and doesn’t half ass things any more or less depending on how close to 5 PM it is.
Maybe my starting point is viewing all code as a liability and not trusting anything anyone (myself included) has written all that much, so the point doesn’t resonate with me that much. That said I have used AI to push out codebases that work, albeit that did take a testable domain and a lot of iteration.
It produces results but also rots my brain somewhat because the actual part of writing code becomes less of a mentally stimulating activity compared to requirements engineering.
I’m not sure about that: the code LLMs generate isn’t categorically worse than that written by people who no longer work here and that I can’t ask anything to either. It’s also not much better or worse than what you’d find online but has a more broad reach than my Google-fu, alongside some hallucinations. At the same time, AI doesn’t hate writing tests because it doesn’t get a choice. It doesn’t get breaks and doesn’t half ass things any more or less depending on how close to 5 PM it is.
Maybe my starting point is viewing all code as a liability and not trusting anything anyone (myself included) has written all that much, so the point doesn’t resonate with me that much. That said I have used AI to push out codebases that work, albeit that did take a testable domain and a lot of iteration.
It produces results but also rots my brain somewhat because the actual part of writing code becomes less of a mentally stimulating activity compared to requirements engineering.