Dave Thomas

I first met Matz 25 years ago at the first RubyConf. He's still the same warm, gentle, and smart person he was then

Maybe, but I didn't just ask. We ran blind tests, generating code in different styles, then giving agents in fresh sessions the same task each. We then judged how well they did, including a manual score from me. Many iterations and some statistics later we had the results I reported.

@pragdave I've seen so much code generated by Claude that I know this bit is not true, so I highly suspect that the entire list is not what Claude "thinks" is good code, but what its training data tells it that it's good code.

Clean Code is Good For AIs, Too I wanted to work out how to help AIs understand my code, so I ran an experiment with some surprising results. (link in follow-on post)

@motdotla Rings a bell...

Who remembers this one? @pragdave

@igor_alexandrov How would you measure the business value of those PRs? I've seen teams where the PR count goes exponential but very little ends up in front of paying customers

Here are stats of AI adoption in my team: • 1,172 PRs merged in the last 6 months – roughly 9–10 every single workday • ~43% of every PR we’ve ever opened came in the last 12 months • 2026 is our fastest year yet: 1,286 PRs in ~6 months, already 94% of all of 2025 – on track to nearly double it • Year over year the bar keeps rising: 1,084 merged in 2024 → 1,229 in 2025 → 1,172 already in 2026 Honestly, I am proud of every team member. What a great time to work!

localized coherence; global chaos

I'm building a Linux kennel from source for the first time in 20 years. Rabbit, meet hole.

Knowledge, or experience?

Production is where software acquires knowledge. Development is mostly where we express it.

A new article on the perils of forgetting the basics in the heat of AI-assisted coding. Link below

I'm having more fun than I've had in a long time. (link in 1st comment)

@sverien @pragprog I'm not arguing, but I am interested. What is the measure of quality inn the case of software, plastic or otherwise?

@pragdave @pragprog Now I call these software as plastic software, mass produced on a 'cheap' cost, with the associated quality to it.

The skills you worked hard to develop as a programmer are just as valid today in the world of AI agents. Link below.

@sverien @pragprog How much would it cost, do you suppose? I'm the past, people illustrated posts using clip art or stolen images. Now we use Gemini and Midjourney. No artist was harmed in the production of this article (except possibly aesthetically).

@pragdave @pragprog I also generate content and code with AI, I couldnt agree more with the message.I am really curious if you consulted with an Artist when you created the cover. If not, that is also a message, non developers will generate 'plastic' programs as we keep generating 'plastic' AI art.

まだこっちの世界観が好きなのは、自分の郷愁なのだろうか。 thank you ! ❤️@snoozer05 @pragdave

Bwaahaha