An AI Odyssey, Part 4: Astounding Coding Agents

AI coding agents improved greatly last summer, and again last December-January. Here are my experiences since my last post on the subject. The models feel subjectively much smarter. They can accomplish a much broader range of tasks. They seem to have a larger, more comprehensive in-depth view of the code base and what you are trying to accomplish. They can locate more details in obscure parts of the code related to the specific task at hand. By rough personal estimate, I would say that they helped me with 20% of my coding effort last August and about 60% now. Both of these figures may be below what is possible, I may not be using them to fullest capability. This being said, they are not a panacea. Sometimes they need help and direction to where to look for a problem. Sometimes they myopically look at the trees and don’t see the forest, don’t step back to see the big picture to understand something is wrong at a high level. Also they can overoptimize to the test harness. They can also…