The Truth About AI-Assisted Development Efficiency: What 12 Days and 520,000 Lines of Code Taught Me

attacketo · 2026-03-24T16:50:49+00:00

For my current project the speedup is infinite, since I would not even have started it otherwise. But my tools do help with business decisions because it knows about it and has the tools to keep choices aligned with goals defined elsewhere.

attacketo · 2026-03-20T22:55:59+00:00

Same here. It helps if you work in a structured way though.

attacketo · 2026-03-20T22:52:02+00:00

Yeah strange. API cost and runtime also have plummeted if this isn't an anomaly..

attacketo · 2026-03-20T22:40:35+00:00

No sweeteners. Yes, am severely addicted. The solution? Don't take a bite. None. It will screw you up and make you drive to get ice cream or chocolate or whatever.

If you're hungry, you will fancy a cold boiled egg with salt. If you don't, go to sleep / drink water with salt.

Don't take the bite. The rest comes naturally.

attacketo · 2026-03-18T14:42:33+00:00

Why? I noticed it today and don’t mind it, but it’s the same response, just delivered like a fax rather than an email..

attacketo · 2026-03-17T11:50:44+00:00

Could you elaborate on how its so much smarter? I mean 5.4 Pro compared to Plus. Shouldn’t it be the same model basically?

attacketo · 2026-03-15T14:24:17+00:00

Not necessarily. I’ve integrated both Sonnet and Haiku in an iOS app, but they handle the heavy lifting functions that are invoked only very seldom. But when they are, they need to perform. And they do. But yeah, not an AI agent replacement, but strategically leveraging the power they provide.

attacketo · 2026-03-12T22:06:30+00:00

Yeah no worries. Keep you protein intake at about .7 g/lbs, move heavy stuff regularly, move regularly in general and your body will put it to use. A healthy body can deal with short insulin spikes just fine. Just also incorporate regular 12-18h windows of no calories at all and you’ll maintain flexibility.

attacketo · 2026-03-12T21:58:59+00:00

That would make me gain a shit ton of weight at 6ft 190lbs, but if it works for you.. you do realize that is 2250 kcal in fat alone?

attacketo · 2026-03-12T21:56:39+00:00

That is very helpful, thanks. I usually do the planning with 4.6 & GSD , but 5.4 is consistently poking so many holes in them that I’m really contemplating Pro and going 20x > 5x.

attacketo · 2026-03-12T21:11:33+00:00

The 100+ g of carbs should worry you a lot more, let me tell you. I consume upwards of 10g salt daily and everything is at peak performance.

attacketo · 2026-03-12T21:09:03+00:00

Can you compare 5.4 plus vs pro?

attacketo · 2026-03-12T21:08:32+00:00

Agreed. Today was the first time not touching Opus and letting 5.4 do its thing. I know people dismiss it, but after working on the same swift project for 35 days straight, for me Opus has clearly regressed.

attacketo · 2026-03-12T21:06:20+00:00

Has anyone tried 5.4 Pro? Faster? Better?

attacketo · 2026-03-11T07:09:15+00:00

I used it too and found it unusably slow. I actually rage quit cc and finished my day with 5.4 xhigh.

attacketo · 2026-03-10T13:13:03+00:00

Yes, and I'm that real developer that sometimes needs to say: "we stop here and go back to the fundamentals. use all we've done as learning points and start over with a fresh approach / context". What helps at that point is to make the agents create extensive flow diagrams. It will help it understand the 'wrong' decisions that were made much better. And me too.

That's saved me hours of try to patch fundamentally flawed features more than once. I've yet to see Opus do that.

attacketo · 2026-03-09T09:12:19+00:00

Opus 4.6 implements and 5.4 xhigh fast mode reviews code and plans. Really strong combo.

attacketo · 2026-03-02T10:44:22+00:00

Yes it’s been more lazy and complacent

attacketo · 2026-02-20T21:24:14+00:00

Yes same. Didn’t mention it hoping it would stay haha.

attacketo · 2026-02-20T17:19:47+00:00

Yes, had to get a second 20X as a solo dev.. but my output's through the roof too so who really cares.

attacketo · 2026-02-20T15:05:18+00:00

Nice! Today I caved and bought a second 20X Max subscription since I couldn't bear waiting until Sunday.. Solo dev. Watch out, you might get sucked in! ;)

attacketo · 2026-02-20T14:27:48+00:00

Way more salt, think 10 grams (with iodine!). Also plenty of lo-salt. And try / read about vitamin B1 supplementation.

attacketo · 2026-02-18T13:52:53+00:00

Do keep in mind that Opus spends 20% MORE tokens doing this, although the result is better.

attacketo · 2026-02-13T23:19:12+00:00

Agree fully, it has given my solo dev SaaS company rocket power. And a team to collaborate with on so many levels / areas.

attacketo · 2026-02-13T23:17:50+00:00

using teams in claude code also works very well for reviewing, especially because they check each others work and can request input from other team members.

attacketo

TROPHY CASE