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by rectang8 hours ago |
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upvoteby marginalia_nu8 hours ago|
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Right, I think the latter part is my concern with AI generated code. Often it isn't easy to read (or as easy to read as it could be), and the harder it is to navigate, the more code problems the AI model introduces.

It introduces unnecessary indirection, additional abstractions, fails to re-use code. Humans do this too, but AI models can introduce this type of architectural rot much faster (because it's so fast), and humans usually notice when things start to go off the rails, whereas an AI model will just keep piling on bad code.

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upvoteby rectang8 hours ago|
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I agree that under default settings, LLMs introduce way too many changes and are way too willing to refactor everything. I was only able to get the situation under control by adding this standing instruction:

    ---
    applyTo: '**'
    ---
    By default:
    Make the smallest possible change.
    Do not refactor existing code unless I explicitly ask.
Under this, Claude Opus at least produces pretty reliable code with my methodology even under surprisingly challenging circumstances, and recent ChatGPTs weren't bad either (though I'm no longer using them). Less powerful LLMs struggle, though.
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