Der Synthetische Architekt
Software Engineering in the Age of Hallucinations
By Frank Hermes
AI writes code in minutes. Understanding, reviewing and taking responsibility for it remains our job.
This book explores what comes after the prompt: requirements, architecture and the question of whether generated code actually solves the right problem.
Please note: The book and the downloadable PDF are currently available in German only.
First edition 2026 · German · PDF, 11 MB · No registration
More code is not automatically progress
This is not a prompt tutorial. It is about software engineering under conditions in which code appears quickly, but certainty does not. About logic that looks plausible while missing the business problem. About security risks and the ability to understand our own systems in depth.
The language is direct and the examples deliberately pointed. The central practical question is: How do we stay in control when AI writes an ever larger share of the code?
What the book covers
- Requirements before code: Breaking the shortcut from prompt to implementation.
- Ghost Code: Spotting syntactically correct logic that misses the business problem.
- Inverted Engineering: Investigating generated code instead of trusting it blindly.
- Test Driven Generation: Measuring AI-generated code against tests and explicit invariants.
- Security and data leakage: Setting technical boundaries instead of relying on policies alone.
- Responsibility and expertise: Remaining able to understand and decide, even when AI does the writing.
Who is it for?
For developers, software architects and technical decision-makers who use AI in software development and remain responsible for the outcome. For anyone who wants not only to generate code faster, but to understand what they are building.
The book as a free German PDF
First edition 2026 · PDF · 11 MB
© 2026 Frank Hermes. Published under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You may share the book unchanged and non-commercially under the terms of this licence. The printed code examples are not subject to a separate software licence.
The text was revised with AI assistance. The illustrations are AI-generated.
From the book to your project
Are you using AI in software development and want to address requirements, architecture or quality assurance in your project? Tell me what you are working on and where the difficulty lies.