Implementing a Clear Room Z80 / ZX Spectrum Emulator with Claude Code (antirez.com)

Anthropic's recent experiment involved instructing its AI model, Opus 4.6, to autonomously write a C compiler in Rust under a "clean room" setup, intentionally limiting the agent's access to external information. While this approach aimed to showcase the AI's ability to handle large programming tasks independently, critics have pointed out that it lacked essential context and resources, such as assembly language documentation and prior knowledge on compiler optimizations, raising questions about the experiment's validity and practicality in real-world coding scenarios. In response, a developer undertook a similar challenge to create a Z80 emulator using Claude Code, incorporating a more structured "clean room" methodology. This process included meticulous documentation, a clear specification of emulation requirements, and continuous testing without internet access. Ultimately, the agent successfully produced a functional Z80 emulator in under 30 minutes, demonstrating the model's capability to incrementally develop software and conduct self-testing. The developer's experience highlights the importance of providing comprehensive guidelines and resources to coding agents, suggesting that informed setup can significantly enhance the effectiveness of AI programming tasks, which may ultimately serve to refine future AI-driven development methodologies.