0xPatrick

I can't count the number of times I'm working through something with colleagues and we say, "let's just talk in code." Good code is concise and precise. Syntax, types, naming conventions, and structure enforce clarity and prevent ambiguity. Natural language is the opposite: verbose when precise, ambiguous when concise, and prone to misinterpretation.

Code is an output. Nature is healing. For too long we treated code as input. We glorified it, hand-formatted it, prettified it, obsessed over it. We built sophisticated GUIs to write it in: IDEs. We syntax-highlit, tree-sat, mini-mapped the code. Keyboard triggers, inline autocompletes, ghost text. “What color scheme is that?” We stayed up debating the ideal length of APIs and function bodies. Is this API going to look nice enough for another human to read? We’re now turning our attention to the true inputs. Requirements, specs, feedback, design inspiration. Crucially: production inputs. Our coding agents need to understand how your users are experiencing your application, what errors they’re running into, and turn *that* into code. We will inevitably glorify code less, as well as coders. The best engineers I’ve worked with always saw code as a means to an end anyway. An output that’s bound to soon be transformed again.

we need a better word than vibe coding man, Claude can create the most beautiful things

It is interesting to see that many use claude code to implement a waterfall development workflow. They write a multi pages comprehensive spec, then let cc run on its own. There is a reason why people moved away from waterfall in favor of a more iterative workflow where specs are updated along the way. Think of agile methods. Sure, if you want to be agile with cc (or another AI coding agent), then you have to stay in control, interact, review, and revise during the development of your system. But it is worth it, for all the reasons that made waterfall fail in the past.

A workflow I'm enjoying for managing coding agents on a kanban board: When an agent needs your input, it turns the task red to alert you that it's blocked! And then you can respond right there on the card to unblock it 😎

I've never felt this much behind as a programmer. The profession is being dramatically refactored as the bits contributed by the programmer are increasingly sparse and between. I have a sense that I could be 10X more powerful if I just properly string together what has become available over the last ~year and a failure to claim the boost feels decidedly like skill issue. There's a new programmable layer of abstraction to master (in addition to the usual layers below) involving agents, subagents, their prompts, contexts, memory, modes, permissions, tools, plugins, skills, hooks, MCP, LSP, slash commands, workflows, IDE integrations, and a need to build an all-encompassing mental model for strengths and pitfalls of fundamentally stochastic, fallible, unintelligible and changing entities suddenly intermingled with what used to be good old fashioned engineering. Clearly some powerful alien tool was handed around except it comes with no manual and everyone has to figure out how to hold it and operate it, while the resulting magnitude 9 earthquake is rocking the profession. Roll up your sleeves to not fall behind.