What I wonder is: are current LLMs even good for the type of work he does: novel, low-level, extremely performant

He has in fact written one: https://bellard.org/ts_server/

> Without being glib, I honestly wonder if Fabrice Bellard has started using any LLM coding tools

I doubt it. I follow him and look at the code he writes and it's well thought out and organized. It's the exact opposite of AI slop I see everywhere.

> He codes mostly in C, which I'm sure is mostly "memorized". i.e. if you have been programming in C for a few decades,

C I think he memorized a long time ago. It's more like he keeps the whole structure and setup of the program (the context) in his head and is able to "see it" all and operate on it. He is so good that people are insinuating he is actually "multiple people" or he uses an LLM and so on. I imagine he is quite amused reading those comments.

In 2025, there is no shame in using an LLM. For example, he might use it to get help debugging, or ask if a block of code can be written more clearly or efficiently.

Some talented people (mitsuhiko, Evan you) seem to leverage LLM their own way. Probably as legwork mostly.

Keep in mind even if someone writes their own code LLM is great to accelerate: tests, makefiles, docs, etc.

Or it can review for any subtle bugs too. :)

I think it's the opposite: llms ask Fabrice Bellard instead

Why every single post in HN has to come down to talk about AI sloop...

Is Fabrice like the Chuck Norris of programming?

> I honestly wonder if Fabrice Bellard has started using any LLM coding tools. If he could be even more productive, that would be scary!

That’s kind of a weird speculation to make about creative people and their processes.

If Caravaggio had had a computer with Photoshop, if Eintein had had a computer with Matlab, would they have been more productive? Is it a question that even makes sense?

And he wrote a proprietary ASN.1 compiler and stack.

I've put that in the title above, although the URL says 2020 - could the text have been updated?

He is the co-founder and CTO of Amarisoft built on thechnology he developed

https://www.amarisoft.com/

https://www.amarisoft.com/company/about-us

https://bellard.org/lte/

In technically deep domains like Bellard works in, Staff+ roles bias more towards technical expertise, and managers also tend to be more technical and able to more completely address technical coordination tasks. Sometimes we like to assume that if someone is good at one thing, they’ll be bad at something more mundane (to make ourselves feel better), but I sincerely doubt he would have any trouble in such a role.

Staff SWE at a FAANG here.

Fabrice Bellard is not a 10x engineer, he is a 100x engineer. You could attach him to a good people manager and either build a team around him or allow him to work independently on a project that he finds exciting that also aligns with company goals.

Lots of negative stereotypical assumption there. If you have some source backing all this, share your claims otherwise personal attacks without any serious base isn't a good reflection.

At M.Bellard’s level one would could hardly even call such an outcome a character flaw, but my occasional privilege of managing - one should rather say, enabling - high performance teams, taught that the Venn intersection of “competent with imagination” and “collegiate manner” is far from empty, even in the tech sector.

“‘We're delighted to have you here,’ he said, ‘but a word of advice. Don't try to be clever. We're all clever here. Only try to be kind, a little kind.’ Like most university stories, this one is variously attributed and it probably never even happened but, as the Italians say, se non e vero, e ben trovato - even if it isn't true, it's well founded.” ⸺ Stephen Fry.

> While the guy is brilliant, I doubt he could fit the role of senior/staff/principal engineer in any one-level-below faang kind of company.

Maybe but what’s the point? Hell, I might guess he is terrible at jiggling and basket weaving, too. Complete failure as wrestler, even. But that is kind of neither here or there. Or is it you think staff title at faangs is some kind of pinnacle position every engineer should strive for? It actually always strikes me as a funny title. In college when they didn’t have a specific professor to teach or just going to use a grad student they put “staff” in the name box so in my mind it’s associated with a random lower rung student who couldn’t get away doing just research.

> I doubt he could fit the role of senior/staff/principal engineer in any one-level-below faang kind of company.

Why would you even think that these sort of exceptional people would even be interested in mere jobs?

These are people who are solo auteurs; something in them feels a need to express themselves in full creativity without restraint in any domain they choose to focus on. That is what makes them unique because they are the few who can change Science into Art and make it seem effortless. The common man calls them "Geniuses" but it is actually a way of living, thinking and training.

Much of Society's institutions, companies, jobs etc. is designed to get the most out of the average person which does not work for creative individuals. To measure the latter using the yardstick for average is foolish in the extreme. This is why true Scientists/Researchers/Artists etc. need to be treated very differently from the "common" man.

For all the hoopla about Corporations/Companies/Groups/Teams etc. in the modern world, all our civilizational breakthroughs have emerged from a single individual or a small group of individuals.

> I doubt he could fit the role of senior/staff/principal engineer in any one-level-below faang kind of company.

Why would he want to do that, though?

Yeah and can he do it on a cold rainy night in stoke?

Who cares about being a staff at FAANG lmao when he gets to do what he does currently?

The fact that so many people use FFmpeg and QEMU suggest that he is quite good at documenting, collaborating, and at least making his code remarkably clean and easy to follow. This already puts him way ahead of the average silicon valley senior software engineer that I've worked with. However, he does value independence so I don't think he would have been happy working at a faang-type company for long.

>"In that regard, it would be a very bad fit. "

He might as well be but why would he give a flying fuck about it? He gets to do what he wants and is financially independent for doing just that. Most can only dream about it.

Myself - I do not come within a million miles to his professional level, but I still have managed to do just that - I develop what I want, how I want and get paid for it. I am 64 and still design and develop actively for my own company and for clients. Gives me happiness, motivation to stay alert and more than enough time to still do my hobbies (mostly various outdoor activities).

Is it insecurity about yourself that leads you to baselessly speculate that an accomplished figure is unemployable?