Developer criticizes AI for adding complexity to codebases

COVERAGE [13]

1. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

   I can tell when I'm looking at a new codebase whether the author: A) is deeply entrenched in Silicon Valley culture and industry, or B) just kinda self-taught t

   I can tell when I'm looking at a new codebase whether the author: A) is deeply entrenched in Silicon Valley culture and industry, or B) just kinda self-taught themselves software Not by their code quality, but by how much extra bullshit their codebase has strapped onto it. #AI

2. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

   But I remember that I couldn't get people to agree that needing to create 3 files to add a route or a component to your program is a serious issue. So it's not

   But I remember that I couldn't get people to agree that needing to create 3 files to add a route or a component to your program is a serious issue. So it's not super surprising that it's hard to get them to understand that automating that is also kind of a problem for the same re…

3. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

   But it's also sort of about why I think there's a disconnect between programmers on this. It is so totally obvious to me why AI is bad for these tasks, because

   But it's also sort of about why I think there's a disconnect between programmers on this. It is so totally obvious to me why AI is bad for these tasks, because in general, BOILERPLATE is bad. This stuff should feel bad to use because it's a sign something is wrong with your codeb…

4. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

   Anyway none of this has been about AI, but actually literally ALL of it is about AI, and about why how even if this shit wasn't so unethical, I still wouldn't l

   Anyway none of this has been about AI, but actually literally ALL of it is about AI, and about why how even if this shit wasn't so unethical, I still wouldn't let it touch my codebases. "Ah, but AI can help EXPLAIN-" If you need it to do that, your code is too complex. Fix your c…

5. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

   The VAST majority of bugs in software come from: A) not understanding what a program is ACTUALLY doing B) not understanding what its current state is EVERYTHING

   The VAST majority of bugs in software come from: A) not understanding what a program is ACTUALLY doing B) not understanding what its current state is EVERYTHING becomes easier when you address those problems. But this is actually a really surprisingly contentious thing to say. #A…

6. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

   But I would get SO much pushback about this stuff. We can't have a singleton data source, we gotta have a framework that passes state down the React tree and ma

   But I would get SO much pushback about this stuff. We can't have a singleton data source, we gotta have a framework that passes state down the React tree and makes it impossible to do efficient rendering. We can't connect to a database, there needs to be a vendor-agnostic databas…

7. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

   That ability to think about literally the entire codebase at the same time - and to eat some of the upfront cost of sometimes working at a lower level so I woul

   That ability to think about literally the entire codebase at the same time - and to eat some of the upfront cost of sometimes working at a lower level so I wouldn't have to juggle abstractions - made my programming a lot simpler and a lot more ambitious. To me this is common sens…

8. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

   I found that I was able to build much more complicated programs because I aggressively culled complexity that wasn't needed. As a result, I could build some rea

   I found that I was able to build much more complicated programs because I aggressively culled complexity that wasn't needed. As a result, I could build some really complicated stuff while keeping the entire codebase in my head at the same time. #AI

9. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

   A lot of open source got dominated by companies like Facebook shipping projects that were designed for 3 million line codebases with teams spread across 3 conti

   A lot of open source got dominated by companies like Facebook shipping projects that were designed for 3 million line codebases with teams spread across 3 continents. But that became the STANDARD architecture for every project. When I did indie game development, my process was di…

10. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

    Them: "But this is making it so much easier to wire tasks together in a-" Me: "Your Gulp file is twice the size that a simple Node script would be." Them: "But

    Them: "But this is making it so much easier to wire tasks together in a-" Me: "Your Gulp file is twice the size that a simple Node script would be." Them: "But it's easier to understand-" Me: "I have to talk to 3 engineers to update it. Look at this - do you know how it works?" #…

11. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

    A large part of my programming career at the time involved me focusing on ways to *remove* code. I remember working with a company using Gulp for their build pr

    A large part of my programming career at the time involved me focusing on ways to *remove* code. I remember working with a company using Gulp for their build process and I pointed out at some point - this is MORE code than you would write in a pure Node file. [...] #AI

12. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

    To me this was the most common-sense idea in the entire world - abstractions are useful and I use them, but strictly speaking, they always increase the complexi

    To me this was the most common-sense idea in the entire world - abstractions are useful and I use them, but strictly speaking, they always increase the complexity of your codebase because now you have both the conceptual abstraction AND implementation to think about. To me this w…

13. Mastodon — mastodon.social TIER_1 English(EN) · [email protected] · 2026-09-01 20:58

    Many many years ago I gave a talk at a couple of local conferences and online about how over-abstracting code and can sometimes make codebases *less* maintainab

    Many many years ago I gave a talk at a couple of local conferences and online about how over-abstracting code and can sometimes make codebases *less* maintainable than if you just worked closer to the metal, and I was so surprised at the time how much pushback I got about that. #…