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Ask HN: Am I old?

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Re: Ask HN: Am I old?

#31

Post by skydhash »

gcheong wrote: post #29
skydhash wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you follow agile one of the tenets is getting working code to users fast in order to get feedback sooner rather than later. There's no mention of that anywhere in the manifesto Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan It's mostly saying to focus on active fact…

I was going by this: https://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html Specifically: "Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software." I guess there are religious texts, and then there are the interpretations of those texts.

I failed to see how AI assistance can make the cycle faster. The actual writing code is a very small part after the initial cycle. The most important aspect is to have a theory of the software (or the part you own) so that you can contrast it with requirements. Such theory is hard to get without a close relationship with the code.

Re: Ask HN: Am I old?

#32

Post by sky2224 »

ipaddr wrote: post #24
gcheong wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you follow agile one of the tenets is getting working code to users fast in order to get feedback sooner rather than later. Yes, the things you say are where the bottlenecks typically lie, but it's a cycle so the faster you can get working code out the sooner you can enter the other parts of the cycle. In theory anyway.

Teams who use agile mostly release on a set schedule not immediately. Getting that function a few minutes quicker but introducing a blackhole you don't understand but you hope works in production but can't rely on the tests AI made seems foolish.

I've had instances now where the code generated by copilot has saved me roughly an hour or more without turning into a can of worms. Your mileage is going to vary depending on the language and framework you're using.

For example, one instance for me was with winforms. I wanted to know how to recursively expand a list box. It's not a hard task, but it's just something that's tedious since I need to go research the documentation to see how a list box control actually behaves and what properties I need to manipulate. This is a very solved problem. What good is there in me re-solving it when someone has already done so?

That's where using AI is helpful without it being foolish.

Re: Ask HN: Am I old?

#33

Post by andrei_says_ »

zwilderrr wrote: post #7
rxliuli wrote: post #4

I want to be able to understand your point. For those who enjoy programming, writing code is indeed a pleasure. I spent the whole day today writing a JavaScript serialization package, and even though I know someone has already done it, I am still willing to write a new one for my specific scenario. On the other hand, I think that although AI seems friendly to newcomers (inexperienced developers), it is actually more…

What's my point? That's a phenomenal question. I think my point was to see if anyone else out there shared my existential state. Now, of course I knew someone did, but there's really nothing like a good ol' confirmation from the other.

My experience is similar to yours. LLMs are helpful but the code that I write directly, from my own thinking, fits better and feels more satisfying.

Craftsmanship brings joy different from the one of productivity.

Not sure if because age, or because I use Ruby, a beautiful, terse language, but I like the process.

Often I close Cursor and fire up SublimeText for a simpler, quieter process.

Re: Ask HN: Am I old?

#35

Post by jamesgill »

mikewarot wrote: post #13

I'm 61, and old Turbo Pascal/Delphi/Lazarus programmer when I get the chance. I've just decided to see what my GitHub copilot subscription can really do for me in implementing something like metamine[1], a language I first learned about here on HN that includes a magically equals [1]. It's slow going, learning how to use a virtual assistant to get things done, but it's patient with me, as well. Eventually, however (a…

I'm a similar age, and encountered Pascal as a learning language in college in the 80s. And then Delphi!
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