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I keep thinking about at which point I should not force myself into the loop. As a developer I really like working on the code structure, making it clearer, thi
by yanis_t 3mo ago
I keep thinking about at which point I should not force myself into the loop. As a developer I really like working on the code structure, making it clearer, thinking about good abstraction, breaking into modules, etc. I really take pleasure in it. At the same time I understand that at some point I am becoming the limiting factor.
If the point of the software is benefit people, should I still care about how the code looks.
Right now, I still think that the answer is yes, but in 3 years? in 10 years?
- cadamsdotcom 3mo agoYou will always be able to ask the agent to do refactors for you - and it can do mega ones that exhaust you to think about!
- datadrivenangel 3mo agoAgentic refactoring is very questionable if you want to maintain quality, as it will rewrite all your code to be more average.
- zahlman 3mo agoI've found that if you look over the code and notice and describe a specific problem and solution, the agent can apply a refactoring for you well enough; and that's often faster than editing the file yourself even if you already know exactly what to do. The idea of setting up an agentic loop to review code and propose and implement refactorings still seems pretty awful to me, though, yeah. Maybe cut that off at the first green-bar revision, and then apply some actual taste and judgement.
- yanis_t 3mo agoTwo problems: I will not get my pleasure, and I will still not know how the code works.
- goatlover 3mo agoOr you can do it yourself. Use AI as a prototyping tool or for boring throw away tasks. There's no reason everyone has to succumb to vibe coding.
- Npovview 3mo agoHow about ship stuff now even if imperfect. Then as capable models come online, ask them to refactor. This allows you to deliver NOW and refactor later when the situation demands.
- steezeburger 3mo agoIt's tough if you're somewhere that isn't very meaningful to you beyond the technology. I think there will be an existential shift soon towards more fulfilling work. Maybe I'm naive or that's just what I feel I need for myself.
- wartywhoa23 3mo ago> If the point of the software is benefit people, should I still care about how the code looks. The answer is yes you should, as long as you want to keep software benefiting people.