What are the new coding primitives?

As a (primarily) web developer, I don't have to think about mutexes, sockets, file descriptors, or other low-level details. Obviously those haven't changed, but the stack has moved up, and we've all moved up with it. A similar shift needs...

·10 min read

Know your feedback loop

Let's say I challenged you to get good at something you've never done before. One option is shooting free throws. The other is hiring new employees. Which do you think you'd pick up quicker? Free throws, obviously. And the reason...

·11 min read

What is AI good at?

AI is great at coding and mediocre at writing for the same reason: most useful code is really about pattern reuse and most good writing is not. At first, this might seem backwards. Both code and essays are just text,...

·7 min read

Write code like a human will maintain it

One of the best things about LLMs is that they'll write code for you, all day long. Who cares about DRY? You don't have to be the one updating the same long conditional in four different files - the AI...

·4 min read

Mod Logs: Save every change, thank yourself later

After over twelve years of building web and desktop apps, I finally added a modification log to one. One table. A few columns. Some of the simplest infrastructure I've ever built, and the one I wish I'd had from day...

·8 min read

Software companies are now like home builders

For most of the history of software development, developers were closer to machine shops than anything else. If you wanted software, you needed specialists with years of experience. Building good software was hard, so the ability to build it was...

·5 min read

Theseus Slop

There has been a very active debate (1, 2, 3) on how useful AI is for programming. It speeds up development, but sometimes at the cost of quality and understanding what you are building. I'm seeing more and more cases...

·8 min read

Halt and Catch Fire

I have never watched the AMC show Halt and Catch Fire, and for a long time I only knew the title, but nothing about the show. Something about it always reminded me of programmer humor: somewhat dramatic, a little absurd,...

·10 min read
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