February 2, 2026
Debug wars: humans vs bots
Kernighan on Programming
Legend’s quote sparks brawl: clever code vs tests—and now AI joins the fight
TLDR: Kernighan’s famous “don’t be too clever” quote resurfaced, igniting a fight over simple code, testing habits, and whether AI now does (or complicates) debugging. The crowd split between test-first purists and LLM believers, making this a snapshot of how coding culture is changing—and why it matters.
Brian Kernighan’s classic warning—“debugging is twice as hard as writing the code”—was reposted and the crowd went full courtroom drama. One fan dropped Kernighan’s Lever, calling it the best explainer, while another cheered “bookmarked!” Team Keep-It-Simple says the quote is a timeless slap on the wrist for show-off coding. Team Pro-Discipline raised the stakes: one commenter blasted that most devs won’t write tests or verify anything. Ouch.
Then the plot twist: AI enters the chat. One hot take declared that in the age of large language models (LLMs—AI writing assistants), debugging now eats most of your day. Another pushed back: can you even “debug” the AI like you debug code? It helps, but sometimes it sends you down rabbit holes. Others waxed nostalgic—LLMs now catch the “stupid” bugs fast, so those head-scratching moments feel quaint. Meanwhile, a long-form commenter bragged about designing “bug-repellent” code so well that big failures are obvious and debugging barely happens. The thread bounced between “write tests or you’re reckless,” “AI is the new intern,” and “clever code isn’t evil if it’s clear.” Verdict? The community is split, loud, and hilarious—exactly how Kernighan would want it.
Key Points
- •The article highlights a programming quote associated with Kernighan about debugging being harder than writing code.
- •It states that writing overly clever code can make it impossible for the author to debug it effectively.
- •The quote is presented as a public service announcement for developers.
- •The message emphasizes simplicity and clarity in code to ease debugging.
- •The post is published on Hacker News under the title “Kernighan on Programming.”