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Using Claude Code to modernize a 25-year-old kernel driver

(dmitrybrant.com)
925 points dmitrybrant | 1 comments | 07 Sep 25 23:53 UTC | HN request time: 0.271s | source
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theptip ◴[08 Sep 25 00:17 UTC] No.45163517[source]▶
A good case study. I have found these two to be good categories of win:

> Use these tools as a massive force multiplier of your own skills.

Claude definitely makes me more productive in frameworks I know well, where I can scan and pattern-match quickly on the boilerplate parts.

> Use these tools for rapid onboarding onto new frameworks.

I’m also more productive here, this is an enabler to explore new areas, and is also a boon at big tech companies where there are just lots of tech stacks and frameworks in use.

I feel there is an interesting split forming in ability to gauge AI capabilities - it kinda requires you to be on top of a rapidly-changing firehose of techniques and frameworks. If you haven’t spent 100 hours with Claude Code / Claude 4.0 you likely don’t have an accurate picture of its capabilities.

“Enables non-coders to vibe code their way into trouble” might be the median scenario on X, but it’s not so relevant to what expert coders will experience if they put the time in.

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bicx ◴[08 Sep 25 00:36 UTC] No.45163642[source]▶
This is a good takeaway. I use Claude Code as my main approach for making changes to a codebase, and I’ve been doing so every day for months. I have a solid system I follow through trial and error, and overall it’s been a massive boon to my productivity and willingness to attempt larger experiments.

One thing I love doing is developing a strong underlying data structure, schema, and internal API, then essentially having CC often one-shot a great UI for internal tools.

Being able to think at a higher level beyond grunt work and framework nuances is a game-changer for my career of 16 years.

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kccqzy ◴[08 Sep 25 01:31 UTC] No.45163945[source]▶
This is more of a reflection of how our profession has not meaningfully advanced. OP talks about boilerplate. You talk about grunt work. We now have AI to do these things for us. But why do such things need to exist in the first place? Why hasn't there been a minimal-boilerplate language and framework and programming environment? Why haven't we collectively emphasized the creation of new tools to reduce boilerplate and grunt work?
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1. codeulike ◴[08 Sep 25 11:14 UTC] No.45166912[source]▶
Why haven't we collectively emphasized the creation of new tools to reduce boilerplate and grunt work?

You dont understand how things evolve.

There have been plenty of platforms that got rid of boilerplate - e.g. ruby on rails about 20 years ago

But once they become the mainstream, people can get a competitive edge by re-adding loads of complexity and boilerplate again. E.g. complex front end frameworks like react.

If you want your startup to look good you've got to use the latest trendy front end thingummy

Also to be fair, its not just fashion. Features that would have been advanced 20 years ago become taken for granted as time goes on, hence we are always working at the current limit of complexity (and thats why we're always overrun with bugs and always coming up with new platforms to solve all the problems and get rid of all thr boilerplate so that we can invent new boilerplate)