Remember 20 years ago when Eclipse could move a function by manipulating the AST and following references to adjust imports and callers, and it it didn't lose any code?

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CuriouslyC 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I have a suite of agent tools that is just waiting on my search service for a release, it includes `srefactor` and `spatch` commands that have fuzzy semantic alignment with strong error guards, they use LSP and tree sitter to enable refactoring/patching without line numbers or anything and ensure the patch is correct.

	▲	catlifeonmars 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Nice. This sounds like the right approach. As an aside, it’s crazy that a mature LSP server is not a first class requirement for language choice in 2025. I used to write mini LSP servers before working on a project starting when LSP came out a few years ago. Now that there is wider adoption, I don’t find myself reaching for this quite as often, but it’s still a really nice way to ease development on mature codebases that have grown their own design patterns.

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Yeroc 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think it's likely that these agent-based development will inevitably add more imperative tools to their arsenal to lower cost, improve speed and accuracy.

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mleo 3 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It’s still early days for these agents. There isn’t any reason the agents won’t build or understand AST in the future to more quickly refactor.

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CuriouslyC 3 days ago | parent [-]

Why do the agents need to build or understand it? Just give them tools to work with it like we would.

	▲	LtdJorge 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		Everyone talking about MCP and they haven’t figured this out. Actually, JetBrains has an IDE MCP server plugin, although I haven’t tried it.