Bottom-up programming as the root of LLM dev skepticism

4 months ago

LLM-driven development works for many, including respected peers and prominent developers.
Some skeptics may dislike AI for ideological reasons, but many have genuinely tried and found LLMs lacking.
Using inferior tools like Copilot or basic ChatGPT can lead to poor experiences with LLM-driven development.
Early on, improper use (e.g., giving overly large tasks) hindered effectiveness, but newer models like GPT-5.2/Opus 4.5 have made usage easier.
The author theorizes that bottom-up programmers (who discover structure while coding) struggle with LLMs, while top-down programmers (who design structure first) benefit more.
Bottom-up coders may not know how to guide LLMs effectively or recognize when outputs are incorrect.
The author acknowledges their theory might be flawed and seeks feedback from the community.

Hasty Briefsbeta