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I’ve been doing some thinking about how software development has changed since the introduction of AI for code generation. Having been through a lot of these changes recently with building a new product, I think that it’s become a lot more interesting, but it’s also highlighted some important parts that may not have been given the importance they deserve. The way I look at software development now is like a bookshelf. You have bookends on either end with books in between. In this metaphor, the LLM or the AI system is the books. This is what generates actual code, whether you’re using Claude Code or OpenAI, Google or anything else. The bookends are the parts that hold up that code. ...

We have all heard the scientific thought experiment of Schrodinger’s cat, where a notional cat is put into a box with a vial of poison. It either may or may not break open. Without looking into the box, the cat is either alive or dead, and you don’t know which way it is until you actually open the box. This analogy, I think, works fairly well when we talk about AI and coding. We talk about AI replacing engineering, we talk about AI not replacing engineering, and really I think the only way we’re going to know for sure is by opening the box, by looking inside, looking at specific use cases and deciding which one is true. ...

AI is a paradox. For example, an AI chatbot, whether it’s ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or other tool are designed to give you answers.. That’s a benefit for sure but it also has been shown to reduce cognitive load on your brain. Cognitive load is the effort your brain exerts when thinking. With AI it’s easy to ask the question, get the answer and move on. In this scenario your brain has not had to ‘work’ and you haven’t really learned anything. Over time, as you rely more and more on AI you stop learning. Your brain needs to work, it needs to learn and relying too much on AI negatively affects your ability to think and learn. As the saying goes, ‘use it or lose it’. ...