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Ryan Gallagher @zero-g-ddr.bsky.social · 30/12/2024

Addy Osmani's article on AI is full of insight on the trade-offs involved - especially the chasm between how senior devs and juniors approach AI: "Juniors.. accept the AI's output more readily, leading to what I call "house of cards code" – it looks complete but collapses under real-world pressure."

an extract from Osami's article 'The 70% problem: Hard truths about AI-assisted coding'. "When you watch a senior engineer work with AI tools like Cursor or Copilot, it looks like magic. They can scaffold entire features in minutes, complete with tests and documentation. But watch carefully, and you'll notice something crucial: They're not just accepting what the AI suggests. They're constantly:
Refactoring the generated code into smaller, focused modules.
Adding edge case handling the AI missed.
Strengthening type definitions and interfaces.
Questioning architectural decisions, and
Adding comprehensive error handling.
In other words, they're applying years of hard-won engineering wisdom to shape and constrain the AI's output. The AI is accelerating their implementation, but their expertise is what keeps the code maintainable. Junior engineers often miss these crucial steps. They accept the AI's output more readily, leading to what I call "house of cards code" – it looks complete but collapses under real-world pressure."

Addy Osmani@addyosmani.bsky.social

✍️ "Hard truths about AI-assisted coding" tips & tricks in my latest article: bit.ly/ai-assisted While AI-Assisted coding can get you 70% of the way there (great for prototypes or MVPs), the final 30% requires significant human intervention for quality and maintainability.

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