bengold14

Thanks my friend - I'm not an AI evangelist but I think it's pretty clear that AI codes very well at this point. So well that I'd hazard a guess that most software engineers don't write code anymore. Sure, maybe a professional could do better if they spent way more time on it, but it has always been a tradeoff we programmers have had to make. Getting things done + technical debt or writing the perfect code and over optimizing. And LLMs write working code, so the rest is just semantics on that scale.

Code being the wrong abstraction is similar to assembly being the wrong abstraction if you're trying to write a web browser game. Sure it's possible to do it and yes, you may end up with more optimized code, but it's not necessary and much slower to do that. Just use Javascript.

And now, people are building larger applications & functions quicker, and it no longer makes sense time-wise to look at Javascript for-loops when understanding the work. And that's because those for-loops are generally correct, if maybe a bit under optimized. Instead, engineers need a new layer of abstraction, to understand what the code is doing without having to read each line.

I'm not trying to sound smart, I just think it encompasses what most people now acknowledge. LLMs write code faster and generally better than needed for most cases, and that seems to be becoming the prevalent opinion seeing as most folks have stopped doing PR reviews.

The problem is, without PR reviews & strict oversight, we're losing knowledge, system design & control of our codebases & products. Which is why, IMO, the coding is solved but the other parts which used to be so tightly coupled to programming are cropping up as their own issues.

Same problem though :). If an overseas employee knows the code and you don't, you have ceded ownership, problem solving ability & future direction of the project.

tbh, I don't think of LLMs as junior-devs. Maybe 6 months ago, but now they are v. senior code-monkeys. They are masters of their craft, but their craft is narrow and lacks big picture, collaboration, org goals, etc.

When you can own it - I like that. Humans are still needed to own systems and drive/direct changes. The question is how can we collaborate as organizations and teams to still own it when we don't write the code and can't keep up with the output

See my edit on the right abstraction - how do we get humans able to collaborate with agents effectively, where knowledge flows both ways, without needing a human to read 10k LOC, or even just lots of long LLM responses, to follow along

Fair question - IMO it's the wrong abstraction for building and collaborating on a new product with a team.

To your point, it's not the wrong abstraction for solving code level bugs. Just like python is not the right abstraction for solving memory corruption or pointer mis-alignments.

I couldn’t agree more. Code review is integral to engineering, to sharing system understanding, to building sustainable systems.

Something is missing in the new ai bot review paradigm we’ve all sleepwalked into.

I’ve been building Archme.io for this reason. PR reviews for the age of AI

I couldn't agree more. I've been building something that is trying to solve this problem, an abstraction layer for code that you, your agents and co-workers can all use together. I would love the chance to talk to you and get feedback if you're willing.

My email is in my bio

Hi, thanks!

That's a great question. It is not making anybody rich, but I cover my costs and make a few hundred extra a month. I think on the order of $500+ MRR.

Besides buying credits there is also a pro membership where people choose which demographics rank them (age, location, gender), can have more tests, larger test sizes and always be at the front of the queue for ranking.

Hi! Sorry for the late response, went to bed and forgot about this post. Thanks :)

We check to make certain people aren't ranking formulaically, and if they are we invalidate their votes and ban them automatically. We also check how close people's rankings are to the consensus retroactively and do some fancy anti cheating patterns there as well.