Comment by tracker1

I started picturing AI generating tools like it does images of people... I mean, of course every other hammer will have an extra head off to the side, or split into 3 handles.

Seriously though, you can tell AI what libraries and conventions you want to follow... that's been a lot of what I've done with it recently... I've been relatively pleased with the results.

I've said several times that it's not perfect, but it is an overall force multiplier. It's much like working disconnected with an overseas dev team, but you get turn around in minutes instead of the next morning in your email. The better instructions/specs you give, the better the results. On my best day, I got about 3 weeks of what would take me alone done, after about 3 hours of planning/designing and another 2-3 hours of iteration with Claude Code. On my worst day, it was frustrating and it would have been about the same amount of time doing it myself. On average, I'd say I get close to 5 days of work done in 5-6 hours of AI assisted coding. Purely anecdotally.

That said, I usually have a technical mind for how I want the solution structured as well as features and how those features work... often it clashes with the AI approach and sometimes it swims nicely. I'll also say that not all AI coding is the same or even close in terms of usefulness.