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I see you haven't encountered an API where a GET command can modify the database.
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Similarly, I once worked somewhere that had an HTTP API that returned status code 200 {“error”: “ok”} to indicate an error occurred.
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Now why would you make such a monstrosity? Audit logs? I was having good day till now.
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Say what now
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Then just tell it to do that

It'll even suggest it

You want a single RPC websocket go for it

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Till it has explored the codebase, asked me follow up questions, suggested the code change, incorporating my fixes after losing time on context switch + the extra time I need when somebody requests a change in 3 months to learn the mental model. I’m way faster to just write it myself (mental model included)
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If it's genuinely the case that you can write code faster than you can prompt it into existence then you're not being ambitious enough with your coding agent. Ask it to do more. Tackle bigger problems.
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1. It's unclear why creating more code faster is a good thing. Software engineering wisdom for decades has been that code is a cost, not a product. There are great reasons for that, which haven't changed with the appearance of LLMs.

2. There absolutely are cases where modifying code "manually" is unquestionably faster than prompting an LLM. There are trivial examples for this - eg only an insane person would ask an LLM to rename a variable rather than using an LSP for that. It would provably and consistently take more keystrokes. There are less trivial examples as well, like, you know, having an understanding of your codebase and using good abstractions/libraries within it that let you make large changes to the program's behavior with little boilerplate code.

One can argue that producing a lot of complex changes through an LLM is faster, which I would agree with, but then see point #1. Sustainable software development has up to this point relied on iterative discovery of the right small components that together form a complete, functional, stable system (see "Programming as Theory Building").

There's zero indication so far that LLMs are capable of speeding up the process of creating complete, functional, stable systems. What every org within my career and friend circle is seeing (and research into productivity impacts of LLMs on software development is showing) is the same story - fast prototypes that either turn into abandonware, personal tools, or maintenance nightmares.

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1. More code faster is not the goal. More features / value faster is the goal. Obviously to get there you need to write more code, but it's not writing code for code's sake.

2. Yes, true, but the point is to move up the abstraction hierarchy, so instead of asking the LLM to rename a variable you describe the concrete business goal you're trying to achieve.

It is true that coding agents cannot build fully complete stable systems completely unguided yet. That's why we still have jobs. But it's wrong to suggest that they don't deliver value or that they're destined to produce trash every time. It is a matter of oversight and guidance and setting your codebase up for success. That does require work, but it is not impossible, just a different skillset from the ones we've been used to.

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bro is probably using a local LLM at 2 tokens/sec
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Ad hominem
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Extremely relevant as that’s the only way it would make sense that their experience with agentic coding is still so slow and so poor
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