Why Understanding the Code Our Agents Write Still Matters in France

Hot take: I think it's still important to understand the code that our agents write! In this talk I'll explain why that's the case, and show some ideas for how to efficiently understand code. Agents are writing more and more code for us, and we all know it's getting harder to keep up.

But the good news is: there are many ways to understand code! Reading diffs line by line is not the only way. Most of this talk will be about techniques I have found helpful to understand systems my agents are building.

But first we have to ask a more basic question… Aren't we supposed to be taking ourselves out of the loop now, and letting the agents loop themselves? As the agents get smarter, doesn't it become less important for us to be in the details? I think many people — even those who are pro-understanding — have a slightly incorrect answer to this question!

One possible answer: we understand to verify. We check the agent's work, we see if it's correct.