Decided to get some stats for a team project we're working on and got this interesting estimate from Google's AI.<p>Here's an excerpt if you don't care to click the image link:
"However, as a general rule of thumb, a senior developer can write between 10,000 and 20,000 lines of code per day."<p>https://imgur.com/a/mSYAq5k<p>As a developer for a couple decades now, not sure I agree with that estimate...not even close to it imo.
As a society we are doomed when people see <i>obvious</i> hallucinations from an ai chat bot and <i>still</i> feel the need to confirm that it's outside the realms of reality.<p>It astonishes me how anyone reads a response like this and then decides to keep using said tool.<p>This would be like if you went to a restaurant with a friend, with no other customers in it. You order a pork chop with greens.<p>The waiter returns with a live wild boar, eating a head of cabbage, and you feel the need to ask your companion if it seems wrong.
> As a developer, do you write 10k-20k lines of code a day?<p>No, nor would I consider it an improvement if I did.<p>OTOH, I’ve had some very good days where I net <i>removed</i> 10K+ lines of duplicate, unnecessary, and streamlinable lines of code, and those were very happy days.
I just put 18 days into a project which totals 558 lines of code. Good alpha that proves a couple ideas and now I'm ready to start over from scratch and try to design instead of accrete features, for the second iteration. this is "just me" work, not professional; but i don't consider that slow for original development.<p>30+ years experience.
As an average, no. As a maximum, maybe. That's a line every 3 seconds for an antire 8-hour work day, so it would have to include copy and pasting or generated code.<p>A more realistic average is 200-400 lines per month. Some sources collected at <a href="https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/17224/do-professional-software-developers-write-an-average-of-10-lines-of-code-per-day" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/17224/do-profes...</a>
Maybe you <i>could</i> write 10K or 20K lines of code a day. But would those lines of code be any good? I very much doubt it.<p>If you're going for quality, the number will be less. Much, much less. Maybe 100 to 150 lines of code. On a good day.<p>Just because a chatbot says it's possible doesn't mean it's possible.
I’m a senior engineer, 7 years of experience, and no, no way in hell is that even ballpark my average daily rate, nor anyone that I know, including FAANG engineers. Even the select few I genuinely consider 10x engineers that I know don’t approach that rate of productivity.
Generating LOTS of LOC isn't too hard, but if you're looking for concise, efficient, correct code, it's not even a question of if that's high or low for a YEAR'S work, it's more that they're measuring the wrong thing.
No, that's a completely unrealistic number<p>100 lines, tops. On a very good day<p>I think you can almost press the enter key 10k times per day (I mean, actually pressing, without using repetition) without any meaningful time for thinking what you're writing in a line
I would be so suspicious of the quality produced by an engineer who types ~15k lines of code per day. Just type 500 and solve the actual business problem in a simple and concise manner thank you very much.
As a developer, you should write no more code than is needed.<p>If the code is not needed, do not write it.<p>= "No Code" or Nihilist Software Engineering =<p>No code runs faster than no code.<p>No code has fewer bugs than no code.<p>No code uses less memory than no code.<p>No code is easier to understand than no code.<p>No code is the best way to have secure and reliable applications. Write nothing; deploy nowhere.<p>One of my most productive days was throwing away 1,000 lines of code. -- Ken Thompson<p>The cheapest, fastest, and most reliable components are those that aren’t there. -- Gordon Bell<p>Deleted code is debugged code. -- Jeff Sickel<p>Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight. -- Bill Gates<p>= Master Foo and the Ten Thousand Lines =<p>Master Foo once said to a visiting programmer: “There is more Unix-nature in one line of shell script than there is in ten thousand lines of C.”<p>The programmer, who was very proud of his mastery of C, said: “How can this be? C is the language in which the very kernel of Unix is implemented!”<p>Master Foo replied: “That is so. Nevertheless, there is more Unix-nature in one line of shell script than there is in ten thousand lines of C.”<p>The programmer grew distressed. “But through the C language we experience the enlightenment of the Patriarch Ritchie! We become as one with the operating system and the machine, reaping matchless performance!”<p>Master Foo replied: “All that you say is true. But there is still more Unix-nature in one line of shell script than there is in ten thousand lines of C.”<p>The programmer scoffed at Master Foo and rose to depart. But Master Foo nodded to his student Nubi, who wrote a line of shell script on a nearby whiteboard, and said: “Master programmer, consider this pipeline. Implemented in pure C, would it not span ten thousand lines?”<p>The programmer muttered through his beard, contemplating what Nubi had written. Finally he agreed that it was so.<p>“And how many hours would you require to implement and debug that C program?” asked Nubi.<p>“Many,” admitted the visiting programmer. “But only a fool would spend the time to do that when so many more worthy tasks await him.”<p>“And who better understands the Unix-nature?” Master Foo asked. “Is it he who writes the ten thousand lines, or he who, perceiving the emptiness of the task, gains merit by not coding?”<p>Upon hearing this, the programmer was enlightened.<p>Source: "The Art of Unix Programming" by Eric Raymond