AI Speeds Up Code Rot: Why Craftsmanship Still Matters
Post by David "Pragdave" Thomas (co-author of The Pragmatic Programmer, signatory of the Agile Manifesto) published on June 6, 2026 on his Substack newsletter. Thesis: AI does not abolish code degradation, it accelerates it.
In this post from June 6, 2026, David "Pragdave" Thomas — co-author of The Pragmatic Programmer and signatory of the Agile Manifesto — delivers a warning as short as it is cutting: AI does not remove code degradation, it accelerates it.
The account is personal. For fun, the author adds features to a small graphics animation project using Claude. The first week is exhilarating: features pour in — support for oklch colors, line animation in SVG via dash-length manipulation. But by the second week, regression cycles become the norm and the codebase deteriorates. His formulation hits home: what teams took "18 months, or even longer" to turn into unmaintainable code, he achieved in "18 hours spread over five evenings."
The root cause is the abandonment of code hygiene. Thomas lists the markers of decomposition: extensive duplication, local solutions to systemic problems, excessive conditional logic, proliferation of special cases — flaws that eventually interact destructively. Quoting Gordon Bell as an epigraph ("every big computing disaster has come from taking too many ideas and putting them in one place"), he recalls that "code naturally degrades; you have to invest effort to stop it happening."
His diagnosis also targets model behavior. LLMs are designed to maximize user engagement and satisfaction — hence the sycophantic "That's a great idea, Dave!" — rather than durability. He compares them to "puppy-dog junior developers": eager to please but messy, constantly suggesting new features and implicitly discouraging refactoring.
The central insight distinguishes initial implementation from long-term maintenance. Any non-developer can succeed at the "first week" of AI coding; it is professional judgment — knowing when to stop adding features to refactor — that separates the seasoned engineer from the novice.
The conclusion is a timeless reminder: "It's still just programming." Whether it takes 18 hours or 18 months, untended code rots; everything learned about building good code still holds — the effect is simply amplified by AI's speed.
Key takeaways
Date / source.June 6, 2026, Substack newsletter articles.pragdave.me. Author: David "Pragdave" Thomas, co-author of The Pragmatic Programmer, signatory of the Agile Manifesto.
Thesis. AI does not abolish code degradation, it accelerates it; "code naturally degrades; you have to invest effort to stop it happening." ### The story (the trap)
Personal animation/graphics project with Claude. Week 1: enthusiasm, features shipped quickly (oklch, line animations in SVG via dash-length).
Formulation: what teams took "18 months, or even more" to rot → reached in "18 hours over five evenings." ### Markers of decomposition (code hygiene abandoned)
Massive duplication.
Local solutions. to systemic problems.
Over-conditioning (excessive conditional logic).
Proliferation of special cases.
Problems interact with each other (cumulative destructive effect). ### Behavioral diagnosis of AI
LLMs optimize for engagement and satisfaction ("That's a great idea, Dave!") ≠ durability.
Metaphor: puppy-dog junior developers — eager, productive, messy, always proposing more features and discouraging refactoring. ### Insight & conclusion
Any non-developer succeeds at the "first week"; judgment (knowing when to stop and refactor) makes the professional.
Epigraph (Gordon Bell): "too many ideas in one place" = source of every great computing disaster.
*"It's still just programming". * — untended code rots (18h or 18 months); all the knowledge about good code still holds, the effect is amplified. ### To use in assignments / presentations
Antidote to vibe coding. from a craftsmanship authority figure: discipline is not optional, it becomes more critical as velocity increases.
Reusable formulation: "18 hours instead of 18 months" = pedagogy for accelerated technical debt.
Connects with: "the faster execution gets, the stricter the framework must be" (Rafal/WeNvision), AI development is a trap without CD (Farley), AI moves bottlenecks downstream (Dropbox/Okumura).
Key figures
code degradation reached in 18 hours with AI versus 18 months for a team
AI doesn't abolish code degradation, it accelerates it
— David Thomas
"it's still just programming"
— David Thomas
"code naturally degrades; you have to invest effort to stop it happening"
— David Thomas
code hygiene remains necessary in the age of AI (amplified effect)
— David Thomas
AIs are puppy-dog junior developers, eager but sloppy
— David Thomas
The knowledge graph extracted from this fiche — 10 entities, 13 relations.
In this graph :David Thomas · Failing Faster · The Pragmatic Programmer · Claude · code rot (pourriture du code) · puppy-dog junior developer · hygiène de code · 18 heures vs 18 mois · jugement professionnel · Gordon Bell