Coding with LLMs in the summer of 2025 – an update

I think all conversations about coding with LLMs, vibe coding, etc. need to note the domain and choice of programming language.

IMHO those two variables are 10x (maybe 100x) more explanatory than any vibe coding setup one can concoct.

Anyone who is befuddled by how the other person {loves, hates} using LLMs to code should ask what kind of problem they are working on and then try to tackle the same problem with AI to get a better sense for their perspective.

Until then, every one of these threads will have dozens of messages saying variations of "you're just not using it right" and "I tried and it sucks", which at this point are just noise, not signal.

They should also share their prompts and discuss exactly how much effort went into checking the output and re-prompting to get the desired result. The post hints at how much work it takes for the human, "If you are able to describe problems in a clear way and, if you are able to accept the back and forth needed in order to work with LLMs ... you need to provide extensive information to the LLM: papers, big parts of the target code base ... And a brain dump of all your understanding of what should be done. Such braindump must contain especially the following:" and more.

After all the effort getting to the point where the generated code is acceptable, one has to wonder, why not just write it yourself? The time spent typing is trivial to all the cognitive effort involved in describing the problem, and describing the problem in a rigorous way is the essence of programming.