The Coming Loop

This article by Armin Ronacher examines the emerging pattern of using coding agents with external loops that extend beyond the agent's internal loop. The author describes how tasks are queued, processed, and iterated upon by machines, with harnesses deciding when tasks are complete. While acknowledging the trend's growing presence in agentic engineering and Twitter discourse, Ronacher expresses skepticism about the quality of code produced by such loops, noting issues like defensive coding, weak invariants, and poor abstractions. He contrasts this with his personal preference for understanding and controlling code, questioning whether this desire will persist as AI tools evolve. The article is relevant to IT/technology as it discusses software engineering practices, coding agents, and AI-generated code quality.