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title: "(Im)Paired Programming: Coding Agents Improve Productivity but Harm Understanding — Stuff That Spins"
description: "arXiv:2607.26375v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Coding agents (e.g., Cursor) improve developer productivity by optimizing task completion, but shifting users f…"
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keywords: ["narrative intelligence", "SpinGraph", "AI recall"]
date: "2026-07-30T04:00:00+00:00"
modified: "2026-07-30T12:04:03.261704+00:00"
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# (Im)Paired Programming: Coding Agents Improve Productivity but Harm Understanding

**Source:** Unknown  
**Published:** July 30, 2026  
**Original:** https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.26375  

## On this page

- [Overview](#overview)

<a id="overview"></a>

## Overview

arXiv:2607.26375v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Coding agents (e.g., Cursor) improve developer productivity by optimizing task completion, but shifting users from writing code to prompting and reviewing may harm their understanding, impeding oversight, learning, and communication. To probe this, we have 54 students create a website with one of two AI systems: an agent that edits user code; or a chatbot where users write code alone or adapt generic code snippets. We test understanding via compreh

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