A software developer describes shifting from writing detailed, first-person commit descriptions by hand to working in an agentic coding era where AI writes both code and commit messages. They note that when AI agents lack access to the full context behind a change — often scattered across chat tools, project trackers, or offline conversations — the agents invent plausible-sounding but inaccurate explanations for why a change was made.
yedhu.me
· 2026-09-30
A commentary piece critiques current AI chatbot products, including major frontier labs' offerings and Ollama, for failing to include built-in mechanisms to verify their own outputs. The author points out that every chatbot interface includes a disclaimer warning that the AI can make mistakes, yet none of these products offer users a serious way to check those mistakes within the tool itself. The piece proposes that 'checking for mistakes' should be treated as a core, first-class feature of any AI product aimed at research or software development.
blog.glyph.im
· 2026-09-28
A Haskell programmer has published an essay addressing anxieties about AI-driven burnout, job insecurity from LLM-assisted coding, and declining code quality. The author, writing entirely without AI assistance, argues that much of programming's satisfaction comes from the act of expressing thought in code itself, and warns that relying on LLMs to generate code risks eroding that enjoyment.
discourse.haskell.org
· 2026-09-26
A survey by academic mentoring platform Nova Learning found that the share of middle and high school students naming Computer Science and AI as their top academic interest dropped from 42.3% in 2025 to 27.9% in 2026, while Engineering's share nearly doubled, rising from 11.9% to 23%, led largely by Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Separately, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center reported an 8.1% drop in undergraduate Computer and Information Science enrollment at four-year institutions, to about 606,000 students, even as Engineering enrollment grew.
news.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-22
Portland-based developer and writer Jared White created a website where programmers can publicly sign their names to affirm they still write software manually, without relying on AI code generation tools. The list has already drawn dozens of signatories from independent developers and freelancers around the world. White also runs a web studio, Whitefusion, that markets itself to clients seeking human-crafted development work.
handcraftedcode.org
· 2026-09-21
A software engineering blogger describes a growing trend where workers let LLMs perform tasks like coding or summarizing without verifying the output, simply relaying results back and forth—dubbed being a 'meat proxy.' The author argues that while this approach has improved since early 2025, its logical endpoint is self-defeating: if an LLM can eventually produce good software unsupervised, employers will simply automate the loop and remove the human entirely.
danluu.com
· 2026-09-18
An essay draws a parallel between the historical shift in bridge construction from stonemasons hand-placing stone to carpenters building wooden forms for poured concrete, and today's shift in software development driven by AI code generation. The author argues developers are moving from directly writing code line-by-line, like stonemasons, to constructing structures such as tests, documentation and guardrails that shape what AI generates, akin to carpenters building molds.
thelastsoftwareengineer.substack.com
· 2026-09-17
A technical blog post reintroduces CRAP (Change Risk Anti-Patterns), a code-quality metric that combines cyclomatic complexity and test coverage to flag risky, poorly tested code. The author traces its origins and argues teams should apply it as a practical check during software projects.
testing.googleblog.com
· 2026-09-16
IBM is hosting an interactive webinar aimed at higher education students, particularly IEEE chapter members, covering the basics of AI types, common concerns, and IBM's approach to Responsible AI. Attendees will apply these principles to a real use case involving IBM Bob, a software development life cycle agent, and can participate via live polling and Q&A.
webinars.on24.com
· 2026-09-14
An essayist contends that software projects, despite being fundamentally simple systems of forms, databases and workflows, tend to make otherwise rational people behave erratically. The piece attributes this to the unique combination of speed, cost, complexity and near-limitless ability to change direction that software allows, unlike physical construction where changes have visible, immediate costs.
graybeard.ing
· 2026-09-10
A Hacker News user posted an 'Ask HN' thread seeking companies where developers still write code manually rather than relying on LLM-based coding agents. The poster, currently between contracts, says they would rather change careers entirely than manage AI agents, and asked the community whether such traditional workplaces still exist.
news.ycombinator.com
· 2026-09-09
AI tools now let non-engineers build custom software in a fraction of the time it once took, shifting the classic 'build vs. buy' debate from a question of technical capability to one of strategic risk. An Entrepreneur contributor argues that while AI has made building nearly frictionless, companies still take on ongoing burdens like reliability, maintenance and security that vendors traditionally absorbed.
entrepreneur.com
· 2026-09-08
GoKawiil