Comprehension Debt: The Ticking Time Bomb of LLM-Generated Code
3 hours ago
- #LLM
- #Comprehension Debt
- #Code Quality
- Developers are reporting increased time to modify or fix code generated by Large Language Models (LLMs).
- Understanding legacy code is similar, but LLMs are creating this problem at an unprecedented scale.
- Quality-focused teams review and rework LLM-generated code, often negating time saved by using LLMs.
- Some teams skip thorough review and testing, leading to unchecked code in repositories.
- This practice creates 'comprehension debt'—extra time needed to understand code before modifying it.
- LLMs may fail to fix certain issues, leading to 'doom loops' of repeated, unsuccessful attempts.
- Manual code editing is inevitable in many cases, adding to the growing 'comprehension debt.'