--- title: "I miss when programmers were lazy." url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-miss-when-programmers-were-lazy--8mibxltsp source_url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN_9aH3VuzU type: video:youtube source: "Theo - t3․gg" published: 2026-06-04T23:17:32.974Z updated: 2026-06-04T23:17:54.579Z tags: ["general-programming", "llm", "technical-debt"] reading_time: 18 upvotes: 5 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I miss when programmers were lazy. **[Theo - t3․gg](https://daily.dev/sources/t3dotgg)** · 18 min read · 5 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A reflection on the classic programmer virtues of laziness, impatience, and hubris — originally from the Camel Book — and how LLMs are undermining the most important one: laziness. True programmer laziness drives the creation of clean abstractions and simpler systems, because developers optimize for their future selves. LLMs, lacking any sense of time or constraint, happily generate bloated, low-quality code without caring about maintainability. The post argues that measuring productivity in lines of code (e.g., 37k LOC/day) is a dangerous vanity metric, and that human-guided laziness must remain the compass for software quality. LLMs are tools, not replacements for engineering judgment. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The peril of laziness lost](https://daily.dev/posts/the-peril-of-laziness-lost-bmm7yrxcb) · Hacker News · 13 upvotes · 1 comments - [On LLMs in programming](https://daily.dev/posts/on-llms-in-programming-rmfrkf6na) · Lobsters · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [LLMs and performative productivity](https://daily.dev/posts/llms-and-performative-productivity-yvgqj9ifi) · Lobsters · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#general-programming](https://daily.dev/tags/general-programming), [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm), [#technical-debt](https://daily.dev/tags/technical-debt) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-miss-when-programmers-were-lazy--8mibxltsp)