When Code Is Cheap, Does Quality Still Matter?
The article discusses the impact of large language models (LLMs) on code quality and engineering practices. It argues that while LLMs make code production cheaper and faster, they do not reduce the importance of understanding and maintaining code. Ultimately, the quality of code is still crucial for future changes and system stability, despite the ease of generating code with LLMs.
- ▪LLMs reduce the time needed to produce code, leading to less emphasis on quality in the initial version.
- ▪Understanding the problem and maintaining code is still essential, as LLMs cannot replace the need for thoughtful engineering.
- ▪AI-generated code can appear polished but may introduce hidden issues that experienced engineers can recognize.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
PostSpaciousEditorialWhen Code Is Cheap, Does Quality Still Matter?Published May 22, 2026 · 8 min readThe other day we were having a casual conversation on quality and looking at a few code examples. If you want serious engineering, you want your code to use a few principles like SOLID. You want to see that the code does not hurt other people's brains for no good reason. This has been the case for a very long time. People grew their gut feeling over the years by reading code, breaking code, fixing code, reviewing code. Sometimes you win the lottery by being the person who had to understand a clever decision made by someone who had already left the company. Now the question becomes whether that really matters anymore.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Yusuf Aytas.
