Post #2056141

2026-04-29 07:50 UTC

A lot of the recent hype around agentic coding comes with a statement of the effect that code no longer matters, as it can be produced factory-style by LLMs. I saw this most recently as part of the &quot;o16g Manifesto&quot;, which sees code solely as a vehicle to deliver functionality. While there&#39;s a grain of truth in that - much of the code of this world is in some way disposable - it misses the fundamental social aspects of what code can be. 🧵

Replies (1)

@sperbsen@discuss.systems 2026-04-29 07:50

In particular, writing code with care is a process that helps the writer understand something: About the domain, an ingenious algorithmic idea, and, most importantly, about the humans that inhabit it, and - sometimes - even something fundamental about ourselves, our understanding of the world and the folks around us, and about our own minds. When that happens, it can bring great joy, and the spark inherent in such code can jump over to the reader: Good code can convey this understanding and joy, the idea as it formed in the writer's head, the click when everything fit together just so. (I still remember Andy Hertzfeld's "famous print routine" on the Apple II from the early 80s, and still feel a connection to the man even though I never met him.) Code written collaboratively can bring all of these joys and insights to the next level.

Open ##2411755