Cisco 向工程師提供不限量 AI token，重寫公司 98% 的舊有程式碼

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Cisco gives engineer unlimited AI tokens to rewrite 98% of the company's code (tomshardware.com) 26 points by taubek1 hour ago | hide | past | favorite | 28 comments help Refreeze522420 minutes ago | next[–] As much as I dislike AI, having worked on Cisco gear for years, I can't imagine AI can put out a worse product. If the re-write is full of bugs and security holes and static SSH keys, then it has not changed at all. reply Aperocky1 minute ago | parent | next[–] The problem with rewrites are that even if the rewrites are ultimately good it will tend to first create bugs on an existing thing that are presently churning in a stable state (well or not). reply Aperocky0 minutes ago | prev | next[–] Unless they also have 750K tests like sqlite do, I can't imagine this will go well, even if/especially if the legacy code warrants a refactor. reply Taikonerd0 minutes ago | prev | next[–] There also seems to be some weird hero-worship from the CEO, directed at this 27-YO engineer? Like, "he is the one who can save us." reply Taikonerd15 minutes ago | prev | next[–] Does this one engineer have the domain knowledge to know WHY the old code was written the way it was, and what the graybeards would have done differently if they could start again now? Otherwise he's just going to replicate all the legacy bugs and questionable design decisions. reply classified10 minutes ago | parent | next[–] I have no doubts that there will also be new bugs. reply koskokos2 minutes ago | root | parent | next[–] the premise does sound a lot like written by someone who is looking for hype and not sounding credible reply dmortin14 minutes ago | prev | next[–] Misleading title, someone should fix it. 98% of legacy code. Check out the full title of the article. reply loloquwowndueo8 minutes ago | parent | next[–] Does Cisco have non-legacy code? reply hangrybear6664 minutes ago | root | parent | next[–] My favorite description of JAVA is that it's a language where you are deploying instant legacy code. reply m4rtink5 minutes ago | prev | next[–] I guess Cisco decided it has not alienated its customers enough till now & its finally time to get people running for the woods - at least if those peoples would like their network to continue working. reply alwa21 minutes ago | prev | next[–] Rewrite it in service of… what exactly? reply rustyhancock18 minutes ago | parent | next[–] It says "legacy" code. Legacy code is typically a euphemism for old unmaintained code, no one knows how it works so it can be edited, and it probably doesn't align with current work practices. Not to say a rewrite is necessary right, but avoiding rewrites of working code is how we ended up with more COBOL code than COBOL programmers in 2026. reply rafram15 minutes ago | root | parent | next[–] If nobody knows how the old code works, how will anyone know how the new code (written by an autonomous agent) works? reply rustyhancock13 minutes ago | root | parent | next[–] Regression tests? I think people are assuming the worst but AIs most helpful contribution beyond churning out code is explaining the code base. Who knows if they will do a good or bad job that's down to the engineers and not the tools imo. reply rafram10 minutes ago | root | parent | next[–] Why is that better than having the agent(s) write regression tests or explanations of the old codebase? reply ortusdux13 minutes ago | root | parent | prev | next[–] Sounds like they can't be worse off after a rewrite reply LoganDark10 minutes ago | root | parent | prev | next[–] I don't think no one knows how it works. I just think the people using the word "legacy" for it are boneheaded. reply piker15 minutes ago | prev | next[–] Is this like a PR piece for the guy? It's odd to see him singled out in a piece that would be normally be about the company, the CEO or the decision itself. reply m4rtink2 minutes ago | parent | next[–] Seems like preparing who to blame if/once the effort fails. ;-) reply koskokos3 minutes ago | parent | prev | next[–] It does sound strange, like it was written by PR people. Tools are good but usually it is more subtle than asking one guy to rewrite everything. And of course any code written yesterday is legacy but it does not mean it should be rewritten. reply balderdash9 minutes ago | prev | next[–] We have an embedded system in one of product offerings that was largely developed using a bunch of “antiquated” technologies (over the past twenty years) and over the past year the two software devs that maintained it have retired. This normally would have big problem, but the entire codebase was re-written, documented, and modernized in a matter of about 3 months (for about $20k in tokens, and a mid level developer spending 50% of their time on it over that period). So it doesn’t surprise me to think a company like Cisco has piles of situations like this. reply williadc29 minutes ago | prev | next[–] There's no goal mentioned in this article as why 98% of the code needs rewriting. reply HarHarVeryFunny19 minutes ago | parent | next[–] Yeah - code rewrites are generally a thing to be avoided since the requirements of older production code is typically not fully documented, even if it originally had been. Production code accumulates bug fixes, performance tweaks, special cases, additional requirements, etc, with documentation and test suites not always being updated in sync. Your rewritten codebase will presumably look much cleaner and more maintainable that what it's aiming to replace, but it's easy to miss the purpose/necessity of all of the old "cruft" which need not be just poor coding but rather later enhancements not anticipated by the original design whose implementation was therefore crufty. Does anyone here work at Cisco, and have any insight as to why a rewrite is considered necessary and might be expected to succeed? reply add-sub-mul-div19 minutes ago | parent | prev | next[–] AI has electrolytes! reply analognoise2 minutes ago | root | parent | next[–] It’s what the shareholders crave! reply classified13 minutes ago | root | parent | prev | next[–] The hardware it runs on has capacitors as its components and some of them do in fact contain electrolytes. reply classified16 minutes ago | prev[–] So there's a real risk that Cisco might become history in just a few years. Taking that kind of risk with a rather unproven technology has to be psychosis. Or is that kind of belief a form of Religion? reply Consider applying for YC's Winter 2027 batch! Applications are open till November 2. Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact Search: