korrents

korrents · video

DHH’s new way of writing code

David Heinemeier Hansson · 1h 47m · youtube.com ↗

21 korrents from this recording · 2 of them a turn

1h
David Heinemeier Hansson did not write this page.

Every claim below is a statement made in this recording, quoted word for word and linked to the second it was said, so you can hear it rather than take our word for it. The wording comes from the transcript published alongside the recording; the sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording.

  1. 0:04:57 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Rails is having a renaissance because it is one of the most token-efficient ways to build a web app, which suits agents, for as long as that lasts.

    Their wordsI think in some ways Ruby Rails is having a little bit of a renaissance now that it is one of the most token efficient ways of building web apps. It's ideally suited for the agent workflows we're dealing with now. We'll see how long that lasts.
    Interesting
  2. 3 min later

  3. 0:07:46 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    For a web developer Linux is simply better than the Mac: closer to what you deploy on, with phenomenal tooling and a reproducible setup.

    Their wordsanyone who's working with the web, who's working with Ruby, who's doing DevOps, they should be on Linux because first of all, that's closer to what we deploy.
    Interesting
  4. 2 min later

  5. 0:09:46 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Basecamp was the best business idea he will ever have: lightning is not caught twice, and a founder's second idea is rarely as good as the first.

    Their wordsAnd I have no shame in saying that Base Camp was the best idea objectively in terms of a business that we've ever had.
    Interesting
  6. 14 min later

  7. 0:23:27 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Designers should find what the spec should be and build it in HTML and CSS themselves, not make a product manager's spec look pretty.

    Their wordsDesigners at 37 Signals are not just here to make a spec look pretty. They're here to find what the spec should be. They're product managers in many ways.
    Interesting
  8. 5 min later

  9. 0:28:33 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Aesthetics is truth: when something is beautiful it is likely to be correct, in code as in mathematics and physics.

    Their wordsI mean, I think aesthetics is truth. When something is beautiful, it's likely to be correct. I think this is true in mathematics. This is true in physics. This is true in a lot of different domains that when you arrive at something that has the correct aesthetic quality.
    Interesting
  10. 4 min later

  11. 0:32:33 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    His opinion of AI never changed; the circumstances and the facts did, when agent harnesses and Opus 4.5 made the tools good enough.

    Their wordsI don't actually think my opinions have changed. What have changed is the circumstances and the facts
    Interesting
  12. 7 min later

  13. 0:39:57 · watch on youtube.com↗ · turned

    Our reading

    AI is welcome as a better search engine and a pair programmer that does not drive, but writing the code itself is not something to hand over to it.

    No longer holdsI will now start any project I'm starting with. I'm starting agent first and that's a massive shift
    Their words nowWhat I failed to realize at the time was that running a bunch of agents feels less like being a project manager for agents and more like stepping into this super mech suit where suddenly I don't just have two arms.
    Interesting
  14. 2 min later

  15. 0:41:52 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Opus is the best frontier model, and the one to start with.

    Their wordsStart with Opus. I'd say start with Opus. It's the best frontier model.
    Interesting
  16. 4 min later

  17. 0:45:45 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Anthropic pulling Claude subscriptions from third-party harnesses like OpenCode is a mistake: playing a single match in a game of many rounds.

    Their wordsSo then they started thinking a little bit in that like the game is single match instead of thinking it's multiple rounds and yanked their subscription from open code.
    Interesting
  18. 5 min later

  19. 0:51:07 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    The end state is agents that need none of our accommodations, no on-ramp, CLI or MCP; the CLI being built now is for today, not for AGI.

    Their wordsAnd that seems like the end state. The end state is that agents will not need any of our accommodations. They do not need any on-ramp.
    Interesting
  20. 4 min later

  21. 0:54:48 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    The bulk of agent acceleration is accruing to senior programmers, because judging whether agent output can ship is what made them senior.

    Their wordsthe most successful and applicable agent acceleration that I've seen at 37 signal has been from the most senior people the people who are able to validate whether what the agent produces is suitable to be deployed to millions of people.
    Interesting
  22. 2 min later

  23. 0:57:06 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Agents will eventually stop making the mistakes that require senior review, as self-driving cars did; the bet is on when, not whether.

    Their wordsNow one way it could map out is that the agents will get so good that they stop making mistakes. They become senior in their capacity to ship working code. This is what my bet would be if we look x amount of time forward because this is what just happened with cars.
    Interesting
  24. 7 min later

  25. 1:04:33 · watch on youtube.com↗ · turned

    Our reading

    The joy of a programmer is to type the code himself; promoting yourself out of that makes you a project manager of a murder of AI crows.

    No longer holdsI have been hyper accelerated as a programmer. It's a different kind of programmer, but it still has the same affinity to aesthetics, at least when I'm producing Ruby code.
    Their words nowthat's the biggest revelation actually more than even the capacity of the agents is my enjoyment running them.
    Interesting
  26. 6 min later

  27. 1:10:24 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    The pie of software work is exploding, not growing: with the cost of exploring a hunch down a thousandfold, projects nobody would have contemplated get done.

    Their wordswe're getting ambitions we would never have looked at before because suddenly the cost of exploring a hunch has just dropped by a thousandfold.
    Interesting
  28. 9 min later

  29. 1:19:13 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Peak programmer has passed: the economic value of writing code by hand has peaked, and Jevons' paradox will not bail every programmer out.

    Their wordsSo, I do think it is correct for the average programmer to think maybe we've seen the best of the golden days.
    Interesting
  30. 10 min later

  31. 1:29:17 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Open hiring calls rarely find programmers who last; the warm referral of someone you worked beside for two years has by far the best hit rate.

    Their wordsIf we look at the long-term success rates, we have had more long-term employees from I've worked with this person for 2 years, we should hire them than we have from the open calls.
    Interesting
  32. 2 min later

  33. 1:30:57 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Doing your best at a bad job is not for the boss: it is how the warm referral that gets the next job is earned, and slacking there cheats only yourself.

    Their wordsThere is no shortcut here. You simply just have to be good. And you will not get good if you do not practice. And if you think your place of employment is not worthy of your best, you're cheating yourself.
    Interesting
  34. 4 min later

  35. 1:35:05 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    The meme that programmers no longer need to be competent is a trap: the path is competence, and AI does not change that.

    Their wordsreally good programmers are currently more valuable than ever because they're the ones who are able to get the most out of the AI acceleration.
    Interesting
  36. 4 min later

  37. 1:38:41 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    AI is not a limited-time sale: the people furthest along are working harder than ever, and they need to stop harvesting dopamine as if it ends in two weeks.

    Their wordsThis is not like a limited sale. like AI is going to be here next month and the months after that.
    Interesting
  38. 1 min later

  39. 1:39:42 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Eight hours of sleep is the best investment in cognitive capacity, and trading sleep, health or exercise for more agent work is a bad deal even in the short term.

    Their wordsfor me, eight hours a night is the best investment you can make in your own cognitive capacity. So, I just am reminded every single time I do not get eight hours that it is such a poor trade.
    Interesting
  40. 3 min later

  41. 1:42:51 · watch on youtube.com↗

    Our reading

    Mojito Island is a mirage: there is no retirement for ambitious people, and leisure without purpose is misery, not happiness.

    Their wordsI think that's the other big misconception that some people have about wealth is that they conceive of it as some sort of checkpoint. Like once you've made it, then you can just kick back in leisure as though that was happiness.
    Interesting