--- title: Write code like a human will maintain it | daily.dev description: When using LLMs to write code, merging shortcuts and duplicated logic doesn't just create technical debt — it actively trains the model to replicate those bad... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/write-code-like-a-human-will-maintain-it-unvdxkwiz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Write code like a human will maintain it | daily.dev og:description: When using LLMs to write code, merging shortcuts and duplicated logic doesn't just create technical debt — it actively trains the model to replicate those bad... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/write-code-like-a-human-will-maintain-it-unvdxkwiz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/UNVDXkWiZ.png og:image:alt: Write code like a human will maintain it og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: 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. # Write code like a human will maintain it **[Hacker News](https://daily.dev/sources/hn)** · 3 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary When using LLMs to write code, merging shortcuts and duplicated logic doesn't just create technical debt — it actively trains the model to replicate those bad patterns. Each copy-pasted conditional or skipped refactor becomes a signal that shapes future AI-generated code. The author shares a personal example of duplicated access-check logic across multiple files, realizing that the LLM learned from those patterns and kept reproducing them. The takeaway: write code as if a human will maintain it, because LLMs mirror your codebase's habits back at you. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How do you stay familiar with the code when it's written by an LLM?](https://daily.dev/posts/how-do-you-stay-familiar-with-the-code-when-it-s-written-by-an-llm--gtcifdlhr) · RUBYLAND · 2 upvotes · 1 comments - [Stop generating, start thinking](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-generating-start-thinking-7jjvm8uwh) · Hacker News · 16 upvotes · 1 comments --- Tags: [#llm](https://daily.dev/tags/llm), [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#technical-debt](https://daily.dev/tags/technical-debt) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/write-code-like-a-human-will-maintain-it-unvdxkwiz) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Write code like a human will maintain it","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/write-code-like-a-human-will-maintain-it-unvdxkwiz","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/write-code-like-a-human-will-maintain-it-unvdxkwiz"},"datePublished":"2026-07-10T14:06:37.939Z","dateModified":"2026-07-10T16:21:40.098Z","description":"When using LLMs to write code, merging shortcuts and duplicated logic doesn't just create technical debt — it actively trains the model to replicate those bad...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--VDukGCjf--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2002","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--VDukGCjf--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2002","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hacker News","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hacker News","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/hn","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/write-code-like-a-human-will-maintain-it-unvdxkwiz","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"llm,ai-coding,technical-debt","timeRequired":"PT3M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hacker News","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hn"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Write code like a human will maintain it"}]} ```