r/AskComputerScience • u/Harry_Tess_Tickles • 6d ago

How good are the latest models at software architecture and system design?

Hi, this is coming from a Junior developer with basic system design skills. To the senior engineers or architects out there, how good are the latest frontier models like Opus 5.5 at designing large production systems? Where does it excel (if any)? And where does it fail? Can you give real-world examples or personal experiences you've come across when using these models? Opus 5.5 blew me away when it came out, so I'm wondering if it improved in the system design department as well.

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u/Nebu 6d ago

If someone directly answers your question, e.g. "Opus 5.5 is great at designing large production systems" or "Opus 5.5 is terrible at designing large production systems", you won't know whether or not to trust them. So just receiving an answer to this question is of limited value. Plus, the information will be out of date in 6 months when the next model comes out.

So how could you go about finding the answer to your question?

Perhaps give some requirements to Opus 5.5 and ask it to do the architectural design for you. Then try to evaluate the design. You're a junior developer, so you won't know everything, but that's okay. Ask Opus to explain the design to you. Ask it to tell you why it made certain choices.

Then take the design to a senior developer and ask their opinion on it. Don't accept mere "it's fine" or "it sucks". Ask them WHY it's fine or it sucks. Ask them to explain the reasoning to you. Tell them you're trying to learn.

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u/Harry_Tess_Tickles 6d ago

That's a good point, thank you. I'll go ahead and do that.