It's really difficult for me to understand the level of cynicism in the HN comments on this topic, at all. The amount of goalpost-moving and redefining is absolutely absurd. I really get the impression that the majority of the HN comments are just people whining about sour grapes, with very little value added to the discussion.

I'd like to see someone disagree with the following:

Building a C compiler, targeting three architectures, is hard. Building a C compiler which can correctly compile (maybe not link) the modern linux kernel is damn hard. Building a C compiler which can correctly compile sqlite and pass the test suite at any speed is damn hard.

To the specific issues with the concrete project as presented: This was the equivalent of a "weekend project", and it's amazing

So what if some gcc is needed for the 16-bit stuff? So what if a human was required to steer claude a bit? So what if the optimizing pass practically doesn't exist?

Most companies are not software companies, software is a line-item, an expensive, an unavoidable cost. The amount of code (not software engineering, or architecture, but programming) developed tends towards glue of existing libraries to accomplish business goals, which, in comparison with a correct modern C compiler, is far less performance critical, complex, broad, etc. No one is seriously saying that you have to use an LLM to build your high-performance math library, or that you have to use an LLM to build anything, much in the same way that no one is seriously saying that you have to rewrite the world in rust, or typescript, or react, or whatever is bothering you at the moment.

I'm reminded of a classic slashdot comment--about attempting to solve a non-technical problem with technology, which is doomed to fail--it really seems that the complaints here aren't about the LLMs themselves, or the agents, but about what people/organizations do with them, which is then a complaint about people, but not the technology.