Comment by simonw
1 month ago
Not typing every line of code myself doesn't divorce me from the construction.
I frequently find that the code I write using agents is better code, because small improvements no longer cost me velocity or time. If I think "huh, I should really have used a different pattern for that but it's already in 100+ places around the codebase" fixing it used to be a big decision... now it's a prompt.
None of my APIs lack interactive debugging tools any more. Everything that needs documentation is documented. I'm much less likely to take on technical debt - you take that on when fixing it would cost more time than you have available, but those constraints have changed for me.
But... that's exactly the kind of thing I'm referring to.
You're blanket replacing chunks of code without actually considering the context of each one.
Personally - I still have mixed feelings about it. The Hyatt Regency walkway was literally one of the examples brought up in my engineering classes about the risks of doing "simple pattern changes". I'm not referencing it out of thin air...
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Havens Steel Company had manufactured the rods, and the company objected that the whole rod below the fourth floor would have to be threaded in order to screw on the nuts to hold the fourth-floor walkway in place. These threads would be subject to damage as the fourth-floor structure was hoisted into place. Havens Steel proposed that two separate and offset sets of rods be used: the first set suspending the fourth-floor walkway from the ceiling, and the second set suspending the second-floor walkway from the fourth-floor walkway.[22]
This design change would be fatal. In the original design, the beams of the fourth-floor walkway had to support the weight of the fourth-floor walkway, with the weight of the second-floor walkway supported completely by the rods. In the revised design, however, the fourth-floor beams supported both the fourth- and second-floor walkways, but were strong enough for 30% of that load.
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Just use a different pattern? In this case, the steel company also believed it was a quick pattern improvement... they avoided a complex installation issue with threaded rods. Too bad it killed some 114 people.
But I am considering the context of each one. It's just quicker not to modify the code by hand.
I'm going to use a human comparison here, even though I try to avoid them. It's like having a team of interns who you explain the refactoring to, send them off to help get it done and review their work at the end.
If the interns are screwing it up you notice and update your instructions to them so they can try again.
I guess. And I don't mean that as a jab at you, I read a lot of your content and agree with quite a bit of it - I'm just personally conflicted here still.
I've worked in a couple positions where the software I've written does actually deal directly with the physical safety of people (medical, aviation, defense) - which I know is rare for a lot of folks here.
Applying that line of thinking to those positions... I find it makes me a tad itchy.
I think there's a lot of software where I don't really mind much (ex - almost every SaaS service under the sun, most consumer grade software, etc).
And I'm absolutely using these tools in those positions - so I'm not really judging that. I'm just wondering if there's a line we should be considering somewhere here.
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