Veteran coder since the 1980s: AI changed which ideas are worth pursuing, not just speed
New-Landscape6002 · reddit · 2026-10-13
A developer who has programmed since the 1980s argues AI's biggest change isn't writing code faster — it's collapsing the cost of testing ideas. Example: while building an Apple II disk-image validation tool, he swapped an external emulator for an integrated one with parallel processing, cutting processing of hundreds of disks from 7+ hours to under 30 minutes — unplanned, but worth it because the cost changed. He now spends less time translating decisions into code and more time making them; AI hasn't removed engineering judgment, it made it more important. He asks: has AI changed which projects you pursue, or just your speed?
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