About whether LLMs can write documentation that explains why code was designed that way.
Has this happened?
Yes 54 (51%)Not sure 26 (25%)No 26 (25%)
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
Hacker News has set AI a lot of challenges over the years. Which ones has it met?
About whether LLMs can write documentation that explains why code was designed that way.
Votes cast 1–2 October 2026: 100,590 votes from 9,694 people.
Very true. Generated docs will never be able to do that part.
That being said from what I've seen at work (and I think other people experience the same), the bar is not that high. Meaning if the LLM generated documentation was able to explain what is happening without the "why" that would already be a significant improvement.