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username223 2 days ago

> I wonder if, for instance, optimizing for speed may produce code that is faster but harder to understand and extend.

Superoptimizers have been around since 1987: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superoptimization

They generate fast code that is not meant to be understood or extended.

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progval 2 days ago | parent [-]

But there output is (usually) executable code, and is not committed in a VCS. So the source code is still readable.

When people use LLMs to improve their code, they commit their output to Git to be used as source code.

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Wowfunhappy 2 days ago | parent [-]

...hmm, at some point we'll need to find a new place to draw the boundaries, won't we?

Until ~2022 there was a clear line between human-generated code and computer-generated code. The former was generally optimized for readability and the latter was optimized for speed at all cost.

Now we have computer-generated code in the human layer and it's not obvious what it should be optimized for.

	▲	erichocean 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		> it's not obvious what it should be optimized for It should be optimized for readability by AI. If a human wants to know what a given bit of code does, they can just ask.