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What I learned building an AI coding agent for a year

https://jamesgrugett.com/p/what-i-learned-building-an-ai-coding
22•vinhnx•8h ago

Comments

asadm•5h ago
why has nobody solved the code editing in a robust way yet. I think all the implementations so far have been hacky. I also had to write my own basic one a few times[1].

I guess diffusion-based models can prove good for this usecase?

1. https://github.com/asadm/vibemode/blob/main/source/editor.js

esafak•5h ago
The most robust way is not to index. Then you can't go wrong, but it is slower. People seem to be ok with it since the ML part takes longer -- for typical codebases, at least.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44106944

jsnell•5h ago
I don't see how indexing is related to this? The question is about how to get the LLM to reliably apply the edit it wants to make. Even when the full current version of the file is in the context, this is one of the flakiest bits of the current LLM workflows.
esafak•5h ago
In my mind the concern was about the LLMs mental model of what the files look like, which affects edits. I see where you're coming from too.
skydhash•5h ago
> why has nobody solved the code editing in a robust way yet.

Mostly because code editing is not the problem. When coding the solution exists out of the coding space. Code only remove ambiguity. It may conflict with earlier interpretations or the current interpretation is flaky, which leads to bugs, aka actual behavior differs from expected behavior (which also exists out of the coding space).

So trying to solve things within the coding space is an incorrect approach since the beginning of computation. And trying to merge natural languages (great for exploring problems) and formal languages (great for specifying instructions) was seen as foolishness by Dijkstra [0].

The reason natural languages are great for problem solving is that we can redefine what things means easily, changing the semantic of terms as our understanding evolves. And when we've settled on a set of semantics and a process, we translate that to formal notation so it stays fixed. An analogy is sketching (where we freely edit lines and just try stuff) and oil painting where every brush stroke is purposeful.

[0]: https://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD06xx/EWD667...

nunez•4h ago
Why do blog post authors decide to use AI art with nonsense text in it? It's a dead giveaway and looks sloppy, IMO. Unless the new normal is that images with gibberish text are fine now.

I immediately stop reading whatever I'm reading when I see this. I'm left to assume that the post I'm reading was also heavily AI-assisted and isn't a true representation of the author's writing ability or their actual thoughts.

I'd much rather see a post full of grammatical errors and stock art from an author with a story to tell that actually put the work in than a grammatically/syntactically milquetoast piece in the style of a million other milquetoast pieces.

TL;DR: "If they can't be bothered to actually write this, then I can't be bothered to read it," is what I think when I see AI slop art.

jahooma•3h ago
I wrote every word! Though I did have some suggestions from Opus haha
iFire•1h ago
Oh no achivement acquired!

jahooma failed the turing test as a human :'( The human text is seen as ai text.

I don't know what to think about this.

Local-first software: You own your data, in spite of the cloud

https://www.inkandswitch.com/essay/local-first/
379•gasull•5h ago•88 comments

Local-First Software Is Easier to Scale

https://elijahpotter.dev/articles/local-first_software_is_easier_to_scale
122•chilipepperhott•3h ago•50 comments

Europe's first geostationary sounder satellite is launched

https://www.eumetsat.int/europes-first-geostationary-sounder-satellite-launched
121•diggan•5h ago•23 comments

Speeding up PostgreSQL dump/restore snapshots

https://xata.io/blog/behind-the-scenes-speeding-up-pgstream-snapshots-for-postgresql
31•tudorg•3h ago•0 comments

X-Clacks-Overhead

https://xclacksoverhead.org/home/about
154•weinzierl•3d ago•29 comments

How to not pay your taxes legally, apparently

https://mrsteinberg.com/how-to-not-pay-your-taxes-legally-apparently/
30•jimhi•1h ago•9 comments

Optimizing typography of insect labels using free fonts and free software (2012) [pdf]

https://www.akentsoc.org/doc/Bowser_ML_2012.pdf
20•exvi•3d ago•2 comments

Being too ambitious is a clever form of self-sabotage

https://maalvika.substack.com/p/being-too-ambitious-is-a-clever-form
586•alihm•22h ago•174 comments

Seine reopens to Paris swimmers after century-long ban

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2025/07/05/seine-reopens-to-paris-swimmers-after-century-long-ban_6743058_7.html
40•divbzero•2h ago•11 comments

macOS Icon History

https://basicappleguy.com/basicappleblog/macos-icon-history
17•ksec•4h ago•1 comments

Just Ask for Generalization

https://evjang.com/2021/10/23/generalization.html
21•jxmorris12•1d ago•1 comments

A new law in Sweden makes it illegal to buy custom adult content

https://www.euronews.com/next/2025/06/22/takes-away-our-safest-option-adult-creators-react-to-law-banning-online-sex-purchases-in-s
24•diggan•1h ago•12 comments

The Moat of Low Status

https://usefulfictions.substack.com/p/learn-to-love-the-moat-of-low-status
290•jger15•3d ago•120 comments

'Positive review only': Researchers hide AI prompts in papers

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technology/Artificial-intelligence/Positive-review-only-Researchers-hide-AI-prompts-in-papers
136•ohjeez•4h ago•87 comments

Mini NASes marry NVMe to Intel's efficient chip

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2025/mini-nases-marry-nvme-intels-efficient-chip
414•ingve•1d ago•206 comments

Gecode is an open source C++ toolkit for developing constraint-based systems

https://www.gecode.org/
50•gjvc•11h ago•11 comments

Haskell, Reverse Polish Notation, and Parsing

https://mattwills.bearblog.dev/haskell-postfix/
14•mw_1•3d ago•2 comments

Build Systems à la Carte (2018) [pdf]

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/build-systems.pdf
51•djoldman•3d ago•13 comments

Numerical Electromagnics Code (NEM)

https://www.nec2.org/
17•hyperific•2d ago•7 comments

Is It Cake? How Our Brain Deciphers Materials

https://nautil.us/is-it-cake-how-our-brain-deciphers-materials-1222193/
4•dnetesn•2d ago•1 comments

Heart attacks aren't as fatal as they used to be

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/418849/heart-attack-deaths-cardiovascular-disease-progress-medicine
50•lr0•4h ago•47 comments

QSBS Limits Raised

https://www.mintz.com/insights-center/viewpoints/2906/2025-06-25-qsbs-benefits-expanded-under-senate-finance-proposal
34•tomasreimers•8h ago•12 comments

Problems the AI industry is not addressing adequately

https://www.thealgorithmicbridge.com/p/im-losing-all-trust-in-the-ai-industry
129•baylearn•9h ago•135 comments

The History of Electronic Music in 476 Tracks (1937–2001)

https://www.openculture.com/2025/06/the-history-of-electronic-music-in-476-tracks.html
96•bookofjoe•2d ago•31 comments

Why I left my tech job to work on chronic pain

https://sailhealth.substack.com/p/why-i-left-my-tech-job-to-work-on
349•glasscannon•1d ago•216 comments

Incapacitating Google Tag Manager (2022)

https://backlit.neocities.org/incapacitate-google-tag-manager
204•fsflover•1d ago•138 comments

Telli (YC F24) Is Hiring Engineers [On-Site Berlin]

https://hi.telli.com/join-us
1•sebselassie•12h ago

EverQuest

https://www.filfre.net/2025/07/everquest/
256•dmazin•1d ago•144 comments

A 37-year-old wanting to learn computer science

https://initcoder.com/posts/37-year-old-learning-cs/
117•chbkall•11h ago•112 comments

OBBB signed: Reinstates immediate expensing for U.S.-based R&D

https://www.kbkg.com/feature/house-passes-tax-bill-sending-to-president-for-signature
381•tareqak•19h ago•302 comments