Comment by all_factz
19 hours ago
React is hundreds of thousands of lines of code (or millions - I haven’t looked in awhile). Sure, you can start by having the LLM create a simple way to sync state across components, but in a serious project you’re going to run into edge-cases that cause the complexity of your LLM-built library to keep growing. There may come a point at which the complexity grows to such a point that the LLM itself can’t maintain the library effectively. I think the same rough argument applies to MomentJS.
If the complexity grows beyond what it makes sense to do without React I'll have the LLM rewrite it all in React!
I did that with an HTML generation project to switch from Python strings to Jinja templates just the other day: https://github.com/simonw/claude-code-transcripts/pull/2
Simon, you're starting to sound super disconnected from reality, this "I hit everything that looks like a nail with my LLM hammer" vibe is new.
My habits have changed quite a bit with Opus 4.5 in the past month. I need to write about it..
16 replies →
Reality is we went from LLMs as chatbots editing a couple files per request with decent results. To running multiple coding agents in parallel to implement major features based on a spec document and some clarifying questions - in a year.
Even IF llms don't get any better there is a mountain of lemons left to squeeze in their current state.
That would go over on any decently sized team like a lead balloon.
As it should, normally, because "we'll rewrite it in React later" used to represent weeks if not months of massively disruptive work. I've seen migration projects like that push on for more than a year!
The new normal isn't like that. Rewrite an existing cleanly implemented Vanilla JavaScript project (with tests) in React the kind of rote task you can throw at a coding agent like Claude Code and come back the next morning and expect most (and occasionally all) of the work to be done.
9 replies →
"React is hundreds of thousands of lines of code".
Most of which are irrelevant to my project. It's easier to maintain a few hundred lines of self written code than to carry the react-kitchen-sink around for all eternity.
Not all UIs converge to a React like requirement. For a lot of use cases React is over-engineering but the profession just lacks the balls to use something simpler, like htmx for example.
Sure, and for those cases I’d rather tell the agent to use htmx instead of something hand-rolled.
Core react is fairly simple, I would have no problem using it for almost everything. The overengineering usually comes at a layer on top.