[__float]

There's a huge amount you're missing by boiling down their complaint to "bubble sorts or inelegant code". The architecture of the new code, how it fits into the existing system, whether it makes use of existing utility code (IMO this is a huge downside; LLMs seem to love to rewrite a little helper function 100x over), etc.

These are all important when you consider the long-term viability of a change. If you're working in a greenfield project where requirements are constantly changing and you plan on throwing this away in 3 months, maybe it works out fine. But not everyone is doing that, and I'd estimate most professional SWEs are not doing that, even!

[CuriouslyC]

There's certainly coupled, obtuse, contorted code styles that the LLM will be unable to twister itself into (which is different from the coupled, obtuse code it generates itself). Don't pretend this is good code though, own that you're up to your neck in shit.

LLMs are pretty good at modifying well factored code. If you have a functional modular monolith, getting agents to add new functions and compose them into higher order functionality works pretty darn well.