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How to Write with an LLM

769 points · 420 comments · joeriddles

  1. semiquaver · · focus · HN ↗
    This would sound insane to me from two years ago but I have recently started insisting on writing all my own commit messages and pull request descriptions. I do usually have an agent review them for factual accuracy, but not rephrase them.

    It slows things down a bit, but in the best possible way. It has helped immensely to improve the depth of my understanding of the agent-generated code. When agents are doing everything its way too easy to “skim” diffs and not really absorb them.

    I always prided myself on my technical writing, and commit messages and PRs were a great place to hone that skill. I found that I missed it and my work is better now I’ve reclaimed that part of my old job back.

    1. dyauspitr · · focus · HN ↗
      Why do you want to understand the agent generated code though? That would make you the bottleneck. Shouldn’t you just concentrate on checking for optimal outcomes, exhaustively trying to find/prompt edge cases and profiling performance?
      1. codechicago277 · · focus · HN ↗
        It’s difficult if not impossible to know where to look for edge cases or performance problems without understanding the code.
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