Breakpoints #8
I’m moving on to a new project in my company and I have to admit that I’m a bit anxious. Part of the anxiety is due to the quite terrible code quality with no private function to capture the repeating logic, and also the absence of document on how to set up a local environment. But I’m also a bit relieved since the project will not be continued, so I just have to endure the terrible code base until the end of August :)
For the time being, I’m enjoying some free time to catch up with some AI trends and really good books.
Lane Wagner on "Just Fucking Code". Ouch. I really need to dial back my use of AI. Not that I have spent a fortune on Claude Code or anything, it’s just that I feel like I become less discovery-ish whenever I use AI for coding tasks. Sometimes it ruins the fun.
Quinn Slack on "Context First". A good read. I like the idea of having an objective function f(code) as a sanity check for what the LLMs output. Sure the code might look elegant and uses fancy technologies, but we human must come up with feedback questions like “Is this the right code for xyz?”. The right-er code comes with a richer context window.
"No Ideas, but in Things". Even when code has become so cheap with LLMs pumping out lines after lines, I believe I will still find joy in crafting things by hand. Sure the LLMs learn fast, but does it find joy in learning? I know I will find some.
Steve Yegge on "Revenge of the junior developer". I like this writing style and the positive future for junior developers. The idea of “babysitting agents” sounds quite boring even though it might mean more jobs. It’s a weird time to be a programmer, and I think it’s going to be weirder with not having to type much.
Sean Goedecke on “I don't care if my manager writes code”. My engineering manager also seems to be all-time-busy with manage-ish stuff and when he had to demo how to use Copilot for other developers he seemed clumsy with coding. But yeah I find it okay: There should be people handling the talking with the upper bosses, so we the peasant developers can work in peace.
"Allen Pike on "Spending Too Much Money on a Coding Agent". $1000 a month spending on coding agents is quite insane regardless of what is the current SOTA, but I agree that sometimes we need switches. Claude is amazing in my opinion, but sometimes even o1 or not-as-smart models of OpenAI came up with things that are way better than Claude Opus. I’m not sure why, but I think this is one of the many instances where Claude does not lead the LLM pack.
For the past 2 weeks I barely open Substack :) And a good new thing recently is that I manage to go to sleep earlier: Before it was half 12AM, but now at half 11 I’m already sleepy and ready to throw myself onto the comfy bed.
