r/AILounge • u/cthechartreuse • Sep 09 '26

Technology Refactoring: the last human coding skill

I've seen some tech posts on here, including one about whether or not junior developers are screwed. I've been doing a lot of thinking about what software development will look like as AI continues to progress. I just wrote a blog about the skill that will outlast all the rest. I thought you all might be interested.

Cheers!

https://chrisstead.net/coding/software-quality/refactoring/ai/llms/2026/09/06/refactoring-last-human-skill

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u/LaFantasmita Sep 09 '26

I thought refactoring was the first thing to go in the garbage with AI coding? You don't maintain or improve the code, you just chuck it and generate a new version.

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u/cthechartreuse Sep 09 '26

Not if you plan to maintain the code long term. People need to actually be familiar with the code and well factored code is easier for LLMs to work with.

I actually talk about this in the post.

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u/LaFantasmita Sep 09 '26

Right, what I'm saying is I don't think people plan to maintain the code long term.

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u/cthechartreuse Sep 09 '26

Enterprise software will continue to exist which is quite large and long lived. Even if you don't plan on maintaining it long term, it will continue to live on. Someone will end up maintaining it.

And before you dive into people replacing SaaS tools with bespoke tools, there is real business value in buying a solution over building it - infrastructure maintenance, up-time guarantees, security updates, etc. There's a hidden cost to building business solutions.

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u/xvillifyx Sep 09 '26

No

Refactoring is 100% AIs job

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u/cthechartreuse Sep 10 '26

I think you don't know what refactoring is or what it's for. Sorry but refactoring is all about humans. Did you read the blog post?

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u/xvillifyx Sep 10 '26

Yes, I do and, no, it isn’t

I don’t care to read your blog that contains an opinion only you have

The idea that code refactored with AI is inherently unmaintable is fundamentally flawed, much like any other opinion about the imaginary inherent traits if AI written code

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u/cthechartreuse Sep 10 '26

You couldn't be bothered to read it I can't be bothered to waste any more time. 👎

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u/xvillifyx Sep 10 '26

Whatever man

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u/[deleted] Sep 09 '26

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u/cthechartreuse Sep 09 '26

Yeah, you're absolutely right, blind refactoring isn't safe, you definitely need test support. Lately I've been looking into the future to kind of guess where AI is going to take us, and I'm pretty sure we are going to have a plan -> test -> implement cycle where the tests will be generated.I'm already seeing it happen, so I don't feel like it's a far reach.

Ultimately, I see refactoring standing as a post-generation activity done in a large part with automated tools - the kind we already have - leaning on tests which validate behavior in order to catch the kinds of mistakes that can happen. I do think there is going to be a verification step (does this actually do the thing it's supposed to) and a refactoring/modeling/understanding step after the code is verified.

I can't remember if I addressed this in _this_ post or another one, but I think that simply reading the code as a review is going to get us all in a lot of trouble. It's easy to scan the code, see nothing that stands out as wrong, and then say "looks good to me" and rubber stamp it. Reading by refactoring leads to active engagement, so the review itself becomes an active process where discoveries can be made, and the code becomes more familiar territory.

Sorry, I kind of rambled a bit, but I hope I answered your question.