←back to thread

Vibe coding as a coding veteran: from 8-bit assembly to English-as-code

(levelup.gitconnected.com)
181 points thunderbong | 5 comments | 28 Aug 25 15:55 UTC | HN request time: 0.205s | source
Show context
stavros ◴[31 Aug 25 13:49 UTC] No.45083136[source]▶
I've come to view LLMs as a consulting firm where, for each request, I have a 50% chance of getting either an expert or an intern writing my code, and there's no way to tell which.

Sometimes I accept this, and I vibe-code, when I don't care about the result. When I do care about the result, I have to read every line myself. Since reading code is harder than writing it, this takes longer, but LLMs have made me too lazy to write code now, so that's probably the only alternative that works.

I have to say, though, the best thing I've tried is Cursor's autocomplete, which writes 3-4 lines for you. That way, I can easily verify that the code does what I want, while still reaping the benefit of not having to look up all the APIs and function signatures.

replies(7): >>45083197 #>>45083541 #>>45085734 #>>45086548 #>>45087076 #>>45092938 #>>45092950 #
talles ◴[31 Aug 25 18:37 UTC] No.45085734[source]▶
> Since reading code is harder than writing it,

Reading bad code is harder than writing bad code. Reading good code is easier than writing good code.

replies(1): >>45085798 #
stavros ◴[31 Aug 25 18:43 UTC] No.45085798[source]▶
I beg to differ.
replies(3): >>45086195 #>>45088591 #>>45090203 #
1. AlexCoventry ◴[01 Sep 25 01:24 UTC] No.45088591[source]▶
Why is reading code harder than writing it?
replies(1): >>45089978 #
2. blackoil ◴[01 Sep 25 06:20 UTC] No.45089978[source]▶
I think it has to do with mental model. If you already know what to write and it is reasonably complex you'll have a mental model ready and can quickly write it down (now even faster as LLMs autocomplete 3-4 lines at a time). While reading someone else code you'll have to constantly map the code in your mind with code written and have to then compare quality, security and other issues.
replies(2): >>45090397 #>>45090528 #
3. theshrike79 ◴[01 Sep 25 07:35 UTC] No.45090397[source]▶
I'd say just reading your own code from a few years back will be as hard as reading someone else's.
4. stavros ◴[01 Sep 25 07:53 UTC] No.45090528[source]▶
Yeah, it's exactly this. Having to create a mental model from the code is much harder than having one and just writing it out.
replies(1): >>45096779 #
5. AlexCoventry ◴[01 Sep 25 21:27 UTC] No.45096779{3}[source]▶
I just tend to find LLM code output extremely to read, I guess. It tends to be verbose and do a lot of unnecessary stuff, but I can always get the point easily and edit accordingly.