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Parsing single file is easier than navigating a file system for an LLM. Until the models have context windows large enough to hold the entire codebase in one sh
by digitaltrees 5mo ago
Parsing single file is easier than navigating a file system for an LLM. Until the models have context windows large enough to hold the entire codebase in one shot, single files will beat multiple files every time.
- bossyTeacher 5mo agoThis. I suspect the codebases in the future will be made of a small number of gigantic source files. These will be able to be transpiled into a more human friendly that produces multiple smaller files per big file in human-debug mode.
- cjbgkagh 5mo agoAs a human who typically uses large files, 10k to 30K lines of code files are pretty common, I find the agents don’t read the whole file after the first time, they almost always do a range select for the bit they are interested in.
- digitaltrees 5mo agoBut you wouldn’t argue that a 30k line file is good code would you? Humans write bad code to. For me the litmus test is: will someone read this in the future. If yes, then write good code. I don’t think we are in the era when a human will never read the code again in human history. So we should still strive for human intelligibility.
- cjbgkagh 5mo agoThe code I write is good. I don’t write for the lowest common denominator, readers need to be hard core functional programmers as a pre-req. The great thing about AI is that it’s raising the bar on lowest common denominator.