Before: most code programmers write is thrown away. Most products fail.

Now: most code LLMs write is thrown away. Most products fail.

Knowing what to build and how at the high level (architecture and algorithms) has always been the most important part of programming, not banging out code. A 2X to 10X programmer isn’t that way because they bang code faster. They’re that way because they throw away less. Now that programmer wastes less LLM tokens.

A big part of LLM appeal is that most code is not artisan craft designed to work beautifully and last forever to be part of something that will also last like a compiler for a popular language or a kernel. Most code is speculative and/or ephemeral. Much of it is also very boring.