Building Better Software in the Age of AI

In an era of readily available code generation tools, the bottleneck in software development is no longer speed, but quality. The author advocates for a balance between 'shipping' and 'craftsmanship,' criticizing the practice of sacrificing quality for speed. Using the development of their code editor, Zed, as an example, they demonstrate how AI can bridge knowledge gaps and help developers pursue an exceptional user experience. The article concludes by introducing 'Agentic Engineering,' a concept that combines human craftsmanship with AI tools to build superior software.