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Cool. Amazing to see what AI (Claude Code?) can do when the operator is an expert. It's like working as a lead engineer with a team. I never touched Claude code

by Rochus 15d ago

Cool. Amazing to see what AI (Claude Code?) can do when the operator is an expert. It's like working as a lead engineer with a team. I never touched Claude code so far and am hesitant to give this tool direct access to my machine. I made some good experience with Google AiStudio when implementing my compilers and oberon system migration this year (see e.g. https://github.com/rochus-keller/oberonsystem3native/ https://github.com/rochus-keller/oberonsystem3native/); it's fascinating that you can give it a bunch of sources with an error description and there is a very good chance that it points to the bug.

spacedcowboy 15d ago
It is actually pretty amazing what it can do, though sometimes it feels like herding cats. As I said, now and then I just dip into the code, rewrite something and tell it to adopt that pattern going forward. It takes a lot of the grunt-work out of writing something, and it actually is very much like running a team of junior engineers. I tend to run multiple threads at once (compiler, blewit, docs, framework), and often overnight I just give them a bunch of tasks to do, with files (/tmp/compiler, /tmp/blewit, …) to shout on, if they need input from, or have found relevant bugs for, another thread. I come down in the morning and spend the first hour or so just reviewing code. Or sometimes I come down and discover that one of them has proclaimed “it’s 3am (it wasn’t) and I’m not going to make a change at this hour”. Like, what ? You’re a machine! You don’t get sleepy…
- Rochus 15d ago
  I see, thanks; but what about the cost? Is this just a fixed subscription? If so, what level is necessary for such kinds of large projects? Can you just let it run ad infinitum, or are there daily or weekly limits, or do you even have to spend money by effort?
  - spacedcowboy 14d ago
    I run Claude code (though I’m told open code runs better, I’m used to Claude) through deepseek, which costs me about £45 per month. That’s fine for me, though I realise everyone has their own limits.
    - Rochus 14d ago
      Wow, that's far from expensive; actually incredible to get a full language with compiler and optimzier and a bunch of targets for just a few hundered dollars. That makes me feel like a movie theater pianist back when sound films first came out.
      - spacedcowboy 13d ago
        Yeah, it was kind of eye-opening for me too. I honestly can’t see myself going back to “normal” programming. I’ve been around a while, was there when “the web” was a paradigm-shift (when I set up my first website, you had to email CERN to get put on a list of websites in the world), and this very much feels like another. But the only way to adapt to change on that level is to embrace it, revel in it, and seize it. At least IMHO :)

by Rochus 15d ago

spacedcowboy 15d ago

It is actually pretty amazing what it can do, though sometimes it feels like herding cats. As I said, now and then I just dip into the code, rewrite something and tell it to adopt that pattern going forward. It takes a lot of the grunt-work out of writing something, and it actually is very much like running a team of junior engineers. I tend to run multiple threads at once (compiler, blewit, docs, framework), and often overnight I just give them a bunch of tasks to do, with files (/tmp/compiler, /tmp/blewit, …) to shout on, if they need input from, or have found relevant bugs for, another thread. I come down in the morning and spend the first hour or so just reviewing code. Or sometimes I come down and discover that one of them has proclaimed “it’s 3am (it wasn’t) and I’m not going to make a change at this hour”. Like, what ? You’re a machine! You don’t get sleepy…

Rochus 15d ago
I see, thanks; but what about the cost? Is this just a fixed subscription? If so, what level is necessary for such kinds of large projects? Can you just let it run ad infinitum, or are there daily or weekly limits, or do you even have to spend money by effort?
- spacedcowboy 14d ago
  I run Claude code (though I’m told open code runs better, I’m used to Claude) through deepseek, which costs me about £45 per month. That’s fine for me, though I realise everyone has their own limits.
  - Rochus 14d ago
    Wow, that's far from expensive; actually incredible to get a full language with compiler and optimzier and a bunch of targets for just a few hundered dollars. That makes me feel like a movie theater pianist back when sound films first came out.
    - spacedcowboy 13d ago
      Yeah, it was kind of eye-opening for me too. I honestly can’t see myself going back to “normal” programming. I’ve been around a while, was there when “the web” was a paradigm-shift (when I set up my first website, you had to email CERN to get put on a list of websites in the world), and this very much feels like another. But the only way to adapt to change on that level is to embrace it, revel in it, and seize it. At least IMHO :)