Reading the code does not mean you understand the code. One lesson that experience in software gave me: I never understood the code. You think it works a certain way, until you find out that it doesn't.
What LLMs make possible is for me to say: find out all the ways this thing works. Analyze the different ways we can run this software, build a fuzzer, build property tests, and run this software in every scenario possible. Log full traces. Log all the outputs. Now, analyze each scenario for bugs. You can't do that by hand.
If we are committed to it, if we put the resources towards it and dedicate the time to it (and we could do this just by saying: it will take half as long as it used to take!), software built by llms in healthcare, finance, automotive, defense, power plans, aviation, manufacturing can all be made MORE reliable and better with LLMs... without ever reading a single line of code. The LLMS are very good at logic, by the way.
Anyway all of this reads like someone who is not actually using LLMs to build software or hasn't tried them in a while. I felt the same way in 2025. I've written 100s of thousands of lines of difficult code. You, the person reading this, has probably interacted with software I've written. For a time you would've interacted with it every time you made a debit card transaction in the united states, for example. I understand code, and care about quality, and that's why I'm all in on LLMs for code.
> I never understood the code. You think it works a certain way, until you find out that it doesn't.
What LLMs make possible is for me to say: find out all the ways this thing works. Analyze the different ways we can run this software, build a fuzzer, build property tests, and run this software in every scenario possible. Log full traces. Log all the outputs. Now, analyze each scenario for bugs. You can't do that by hand.
Testing isn’t the same as understanding the code, or proving (even informally) that it is correct. Having the LLM do all these things above doesn’t lead you or the LLM to understand the code, to logically reason about its behavior over all possible states and inputs.
“Finding out that it doesn't” means that you didn’t properly reason through the code beforehand, checking all your assumptions against what the code and underlying systems are actually guaranteeing. This may be a matter of formal education (proving computer science theorems and algorithmic correctness in university), I don’t know.
You’re technically correct, but the vast majority of software has never been built to the kinds of standards you are describing. LLMs are not displacing that kind of work!
yeah, the llm approach is incredibly wasteful wrt pretty much everything.
Performance, RAM, Development (Tokens).
But it does give you surprisingly stasble rube-goldberg machines.
And thats basically what 95-99% of enterprises want from their software.
It annoyed me to no end when i began my career, but at this point ive accepted it and can definitely still have fun developing software with llms. As a matter of fact, as my perfectionism approach to software in my earlier years was never really appreciated... So i dont really mind the new MO.
I still occasionally hand write though, esp. at the dayjob where ive got super small token budgets while continuously being told to use more AI. But that's normal, employers usually give off bipolar vibes with multiple stakeholders wanting to advance each of their bonus package KPI of any given quarter
efficax · · focus · HN ↗
What LLMs make possible is for me to say: find out all the ways this thing works. Analyze the different ways we can run this software, build a fuzzer, build property tests, and run this software in every scenario possible. Log full traces. Log all the outputs. Now, analyze each scenario for bugs. You can't do that by hand.
If we are committed to it, if we put the resources towards it and dedicate the time to it (and we could do this just by saying: it will take half as long as it used to take!), software built by llms in healthcare, finance, automotive, defense, power plans, aviation, manufacturing can all be made MORE reliable and better with LLMs... without ever reading a single line of code. The LLMS are very good at logic, by the way.
Anyway all of this reads like someone who is not actually using LLMs to build software or hasn't tried them in a while. I felt the same way in 2025. I've written 100s of thousands of lines of difficult code. You, the person reading this, has probably interacted with software I've written. For a time you would've interacted with it every time you made a debit card transaction in the united states, for example. I understand code, and care about quality, and that's why I'm all in on LLMs for code.
layer8 · · focus · HN ↗
Testing isn’t the same as understanding the code, or proving (even informally) that it is correct. Having the LLM do all these things above doesn’t lead you or the LLM to understand the code, to logically reason about its behavior over all possible states and inputs.
“Finding out that it doesn't” means that you didn’t properly reason through the code beforehand, checking all your assumptions against what the code and underlying systems are actually guaranteeing. This may be a matter of formal education (proving computer science theorems and algorithmic correctness in university), I don’t know.
emtel · · focus · HN ↗
ffsm8 · · focus · HN ↗
But it does give you surprisingly stasble rube-goldberg machines.
And thats basically what 95-99% of enterprises want from their software.
It annoyed me to no end when i began my career, but at this point ive accepted it and can definitely still have fun developing software with llms. As a matter of fact, as my perfectionism approach to software in my earlier years was never really appreciated... So i dont really mind the new MO.
I still occasionally hand write though, esp. at the dayjob where ive got super small token budgets while continuously being told to use more AI. But that's normal, employers usually give off bipolar vibes with multiple stakeholders wanting to advance each of their bonus package KPI of any given quarter
jonahx · · focus · HN ↗
Everything except what matters most: human time.
danaris · · focus · HN ↗