Martin Fowler
DSLs Enable Reliable Use of LLMs
Unmesh Joshi illustrates how LLMs work very effectively with Domain-Specific Languages (DSL). The constrained nature of DSLs make it easier for the LLM to build code based on natural langu
Daily Digest
Why TDD and AI coding tools exploit the same psychological flaws
Drew DeVault draws a provocative parallel between Test-Driven Development cults and GenAI adoption, arguing both exploit developers' psychological need to feel competent while potentially undermining actual code quality.
- TDD's hidden influence on architecture: While ensuring test coverage, TDD shapes codebases to be "testable" rather than well-designed, and provides no guarantee that passing tests verify the right behavior for actual user needs.
- The dopamine trap of development metrics: Both TDD's green test suites and AI's rapid output create addictive feedback loops through coverage percentages, CI badges, and productivity metrics that make developers feel competent regardless of actual code quality.
- AI coding agents as the new performance theater: GenAI tools let mediocre programmers experience the rush of 10x developer productivity, building "cathedrals" quickly that have beautiful test coverage but rotten foundations underneath.
- The psychological cost of shortcuts: Developers chase these tools despite knowing the externalities (environmental costs, job displacement) because the feeling of finally being "great" at programming overrides long-term concerns.
#tdd-psychology#ai-code-generation#developer-productivity-metrics#software-testing-culture#programming-dopamine-loops
View all daily digests →Latest Articles - Page 4
Ned Batchelder
A place of certainty
My mother is 86, and she is declining. Things that used to be easy for her now seem completely foreign. She was a programmer, writing software before I could read, so it is very strange to see her lik
Sylvain Kerkour
The discourse about software craftsmanship conveniently ignores last-mile delivery
I've always considered myself a software craftsman. I love clean APIs, efficient code and great user experience. If our entire world is about to be rewritten in Rust governed by
Xe Iaso
You should probably check on your smart appliances
TL;DR: is your refrigerator running malware? If so, you better catch it!
Martin Fowler
Fragments: July 13
Some more of my notes from Thoughtworks Future of Software Development Retreat. When we had our first retreat in Utah early this year, nobody had heard of Harness Engineering. This time we had a whole
antirez (Salvatore Sanfilippo)
Control the ideas, not the code
Look at the past history of this blog. There are many blog posts about programming with AI, a few of them date back to January 2024 (like this: https://antirez.com/news/140). I’m a relatively well reg
Sylvain Kerkour
Even if 90% of AI-discovered vulnerabilities are made up, it's still terrifying
Developers working on popular projets are inundated with hallucinated vulnerability reports, leading people to downplay the risks associated with AI-assisted vulnerability hunting. But hear me out: it
Armin Ronacher
The Tower Keeps Rising
I feel that some vibecoded software changes somewhat randomly and unexpectedly. That made me think about Bruegel’s “The Tower of Babel” which shows an already quite chaotic depiction of the Tower of B
Will Larson
Generated and suppressed demand.
Eight years ago, I wrote about my theory of restoring struggling teams, which came down to four steps: A team is falling behind if each week their backlog is longer than the week before. Solve by hiri