[sarchertech]

> It doesn’t matter to AI whether the code is spaghetti code or not. What you said was only important when humans were maintaining the code.

In my experience using AI to work on existing systems, the AI definitely performs much better on code that humans would consider readable.

You can’t really sit here talking about architecting greenfield systems with AI using methodology that didn’t exist 6 months ago while confidently proclaiming that “trust me they’ll be maintainable”.

Well you can, and most consultants do tend to do that, but it’s not worth much.

[raw_anon_1111]

I wasn’t born into consulting in 1996. AI for coding is by definition the worse today that it will ever be. What makes you think that the complexity of the code will increase faster than the capability of the agents?

[sarchertech]

You might have maintained large systems long ago, but if you haven't done it in a while your skill atrophies.

And the most important part is you haven't maintained any large systems written by AI, so stating that they will work is nonsense.

I won't state that AI can't get better. AI agents might replace all of us in the future. But what I will tell you is based on my experience and reasoning I have very strong doubts about the maintainability of AI generated code that no one has approved or understands. The burden of proof isn't on the person saying "maybe we should slow down and understand the consequences before we introduce a massive change." It's on the person saying "trust me it will work even though I have absolutely no evidence to support my claim".

[raw_anon_1111]

Well seeing that Claude code was just introduced last year - it couldn’t have been that long since I didn’t code with AI.

And did I mention I got my start working in cloud consulting as a full time blue badge, RSU earning employee at a little company you might have heard of based in Seattle? So since I have worked at the second largest employee in the US, unless you have worked for Walmart - I don’t think you have worked for a larger company than I have.

Oh did I also mention that I worked at GE when it was #6 in market cap?

These were some of the business requirements we had to implement for the railroad car repair interchange management software

https://www.rmimimra.com/media/attachments/2020/12/23/indust...

You better believe we had a rigorous set of automated tests in something as highly regulated with real world consequences as the railroad transportation industry. AI would have been perfect for that because the requirements were well documented and the test coverage was extreme.

And unless your experience coding is before 1986 when I was coding in assembly language in 65C02 as a hobby, I think I might have a wee bit more than you.

I think you should probably save your “I have more experience” for someone who hasn’t been doing this professionally for 30 years for everything from startups, to large enterprises, to BigTech.

[sarchertech]

>Well seeing that Claude code was just introduced last year - it couldn’t have been that long since I didn’t code with AI.

That's my entire point!

>And unless your experience coding is before 1986 when I was coding in assembly language in 65C02 as a hobby, I think I might have a wee bit more than you.

Yeah a real wee bit. I started in the late 80s in Tandy Basic.

>I think you should probably save your “I have more experience” for someone who hasn’t been doing this professionally for 30 years for everything from startups, to large enterprises, to BigTech.

I never said anything about having more experience than you, but I've been doing this almost as long as you have. Also at everywhere from startups to large enterprises to BigTech.

But relevant to the discussion at hand, I haven't been consulting for the last part of my career where I could just lob something over the fence and walk away before I have to deal with the consequences of my decisions. This is what seems to be coloring your experience.

[Rapzid]

> Well you can, and most consultants do tend to do that

Yeah they do.

I'm familiar enough with the claims to feel confident there is plenty of nefarious astroturfing occurring all over the web including on HN.

[ugtr3]

Indeed. Astro turfing posts have a particular smell to them.