Quoting Matt Pocock

The way agents ‘read’ code is different - good agents are all about gathering data about how the code works. They’ll prod around with it, execute parts of it.

So ‘readability’ to agents really means ‘verifiability’. How easy it is to mess about with that code to see it working.

Let’s take this scenario:

• You have a huge module in your codebase that uses all sorts of complex performance tricks

• It has 100% test coverage

A talented human would need an hour or two to get comfortable working in that module.

An agent needs zero time. They verify it with the tests, poke about a bit, and they’re good to go.