Viability of local models for coding 🔗
Birgitta Böckeler recently spent some time trying out running local LLMs for some programming tasks. In this memo she outlines the factors that [...]
Martin Fowler
Posts
Fragments: July 6 🔗
Last week, Thoughtworks ran a second Future of Software Development Retreat, this time in Europe. As with the previous event, I’ll be sharing some fra [...]
Fragments: June 16 🔗
“Prag Dave” Thomas (co-author of the outstanding “Pragmatic Programmer”) has loved programming since he was young. Programming was how I could express [...]
Building Reliable Agentic AI Systems 🔗
One of the most interesting projects my colleagues have done with LLMs has been building a system with Bayer to allow pharmaceutical researchers [...]
Fragments: June 2 🔗
Greg Wilson has noticed that lots of folks are using dodgy metrics to figure out if AI tools are worth their costs. Would you measure lines of code ge [...]
Fragments: May 27 🔗
At the GOTO Conference in Copenhagen in 2025, Kent Beck and I spent some time on stage talking and answering questions from the audience - a format I [...]
The test suite as a regression sensor 🔗
Birgitta Böckeler finishes her post on sensors for coding agents by examining the role of a test suite as a regression sensor, focusing on [...]
The VibeSec Reckoning 🔗
Vibe coding has significantly accelerated software prototyping but AI agents frequently recommend insecure configurations, creating security [...]
Bliki: Vibe Coding 🔗
Vibe coding is building a software application by prompting an LLM, telling it what to build, trying it out, prompting for changes - but without loo [...]
Three more static code analysis sensors 🔗
Birgitta Böckeler adds discussion of three more sensors for static code analysis, focusing on checking and enforcing better modularity. Co [...]
Maintainability sensors for coding agents 🔗
In her recent article about harness engineering for coding agent users, Birgitta Böckeler laid out a mental model for expanding a coding a [...]
Fragments: May 14 🔗
Last week I spent a day at The Orchard Retreat, hosted by Mechanical Orchard. that brought together several people working in software development to [...]
Bliki: Interrogatory LLM 🔗
When we need an LLM to perform a complex task, we often need to feed it a lot of context. Coming up with a design for a new feature requires descr [...]
What is Code 🔗
Increasingly humans delegate writing code to agents. Will there even be source code in the future? To wrestle with this question, we have to [...]
Fragments: May 5 🔗
Over the last couple of months Rahul Garg published a series of posts here on how to reduce the friction in AI-assisted programming. To make it easier [...]
Bliki: Mythical Man Month 🔗
In the early 1960s, Fred Brooks managed the development of IBM's System/360 computer systems. After it was done he penned his thoughts in the book T [...]
Fragments: April 29 🔗
Chris Parsons has updated his guide on using AI to code. This is his third update, what I like about it is that he gives a lot of concrete information [...]
Structured-Prompt-Driven Development (SPDD) 🔗
LLM programming assistants have demonstrated considerable value, but mostly with individual developers. The internal IT organization in Th [...]
Fragments: April 21 🔗
Last week Thoughtworks released the 34th volume of our Technology Radar. This radar is our biannual survey of our experience of the technology scene, [...]
Fragments: April 14 🔗
I attended the first Pragmatic Summit early this year, and while there host Gergely Orosz interviewed Kent Beck and myself on stage. The video runs fo [...]
Alan Turing play in Cambridge MA 🔗
Last night I saw Central Square Theater’s excellent production of Breaking the Code. It’s about Alan Turing, who made a monumental contribution to bot [...]
Fragments: April 9 🔗
I mostly link to written material here, but I’ve recently listened to two excellent podcasts that I can recommend. Anyone who regularly reads these fr [...]
Feedback Flywheel 🔗
Rahul Garg finishes his series on reducing the friction in AI-Assisted Development. He proposes a structured feedback practice that harves [...]
Principles of Mechanical Sympathy 🔗
Modern hardware is remarkably fast, but software often fails to leverage it. Caer Sanders has found it valuable to guide their work with m [...]
Harness engineering for coding agent users 🔗
Last month Birgitta Böckeler wrote some initial thoughts about the recently developed notion of Harness Engineering. She's been researchin [...]
Encoding Team Standards 🔗
AI coding assistants respond to whoever is prompting, and the quality of what they produce depends on how well the prompter articulates team [...]
Bliki: Architecture Decision Record 🔗
An Architecture Decision Record (ADR) is a short document that captures and explains a single decision relevant to a product or ecosystem. Documents [...]
Context Anchoring 🔗
Conversations with AI are ephemeral, decisions made early lose attention as the conversation continues, and disappear entirely with a new [...]
Ideological Resistance to Patents, Followed by Reluctant Pragmatism 🔗
Naresh Jain has long been uncomfortable with software patents. But a direct experience of patent aggression, together with the practical c [...]
Humans and Agents in Software Engineering Loops 🔗
There's been much talk recently about how AI agents affect the workflow loops of software development. Kief Morris believes the answer is [...]