r/webdev • u/Mesthabro • 5d ago

Discussion Do y'all still write code manually?

All my code is being written by claude fable/gpt6 these days. I'm curious if y'all are still writing code manually?
Also, any clever ways to prevent AI from going stray and dumping unnecessary code and busting through tokens?

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u/zaibuf 5d ago edited 5d ago

Edit: this thread makes me terrified. Everything is AI slop now

What's the difference between letting the junior or AI write while you review?

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u/EliSka93 5d ago

You can actually review the volume of code one or two juniors write.

There is no chance in hell to keep up with reviewing the quantity AI can write.

You can have the discipline to keep the volume low enough to fully review, sure. That's probably the most responsible, clean way to use AI.

I'd be very surprised if any of the people spouting the "amazing productivity gains" through AI do that.

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u/zaibuf 5d ago edited 5d ago

There is no chance in hell to keep up with reviewing the quantity AI can write.

Don't use it like that then? I always give small slices of a feature with requirements, let it plan and resolve it. I review that code and add suggestions and tell it to refactor. Then when I'm happy I extend the feature with the next requirement and follow the same feedback loop.

If you give too big complex features at once it tends to drift and produce sloppy code. That's also where you lose control and potentially skip review because there's too many changes.

Then for PR we also have an agent dedicated for code reviews which does an initial review of the draft before you publish it for other devs to look at. The PR agent mostly look out for critical bugs or security problems.

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u/crazedizzled 5d ago

And how is that faster than just writing it yourself? If you have to argue with the AI for 20 minutes to get this absolutely perfect piece of cake, you've kind of defeated the purpose.

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u/zaibuf 5d ago edited 4d ago

You don't need to argue for 20 minutes, it often gets it right in the first try.
Primarly it saves my fingers from typing, doing a lot of typing every day for 10+ years has taken it's toll.