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Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

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Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#71

Here's why I don't get why people are badmouthing AI assist tools from Claude for Excel to Cursor to any new AI assist tool. Why not try it out, and if it doesn't work for you or creates more work for you, then ditch it. All these AI assist tools are just tools.

The problem arises when there's outside pressure to use the tools, or now you're maintaining code written by someone else through the use of the tools, where it could have been good enough for them because they don't have to deal with downstream effects. At least that's been my negative experience with AI coding assistance. You could say "just get a new job" but unfortunately that's hard.

>You're maintaining code written by someone else through the use of these tools, where it could have been good enough for them.

I believe everyone has to deal with that, AI or not. There are bad human coders.

I've done integration for several years. There are integrations done with tools like Dell Boomi (no-code/low-code) that work but are hard to maintain, like you said. But what can you do? Your employer uses that tool to get it running until it can't anymore, as most no-code/low-code tools can get you to your goal most of the time. But when there's no "connector" or third-party connector that costs an arm and a leg, or hiring a Dell Boomi specialist to code that last mile, which will also cost an arm or a leg, then you turn to your own IT team to come up with a solution.

It's all part of IT life. When you're not the decision-maker, that's what you have to deal with. I'm not going to blame Dell Boomi for making my work extra hard or whatnot. It's just a tool they picked.

I am just saying that a tool is a tool. You can see many real life examples where you'll be pressured into using a tool and maintaining something created by such a tool, and not just in IT but in every field.

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#72
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that is what the original commenter was getting at. In your case, the company is actively choosing to make changes. Whether its for a good reason, or leads to a good outcome, is beside the point. LLMs being inherently non-deterministic means using this technology as the foundation of your UI will mean your UI is also non-deterministic. The changes that stem from that are NOT from any active participatio…

Right I get tha. The point I’m making is that from a users perspective it’s functionally very similar. A non deterministic llm or a non deterministic company full of designers and engineers.

Regardless of what changes the bank makes, it’s not going to let you access someone else’s money. This llm very well might.

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#74
It's orders of magnitude cheaper to serve requests with conventional methods than directly with LLM. My back-of-envelope calculation says, optimistically, it takes more than 100 GFLOPs to generate 10 tokens using a 7 billion parameter LLM. There are better ways to use electricity.

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I wouldn’t say that my hypothesis is that non-deterministic behavior is good. It’s an undesirable side effect and illustrates the gap we have between now and the coming post-code world.

AI wouldn't be intelligent though if it was deterministic. It would just be information retrieval

It already is "just" information retrieval, just with stochastic threads refining the geometry of the information.

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#76
post #41

Here's why I don't get why people are badmouthing AI assist tools from Claude for Excel to Cursor to any new AI assist tool. Why not try it out, and if it doesn't work for you or creates more work for you, then ditch it. All these AI assist tools are just tools.

Anecdotally, I've seen people do just that. Say, "I've tried it, it either didn't help me at all, or it didn't help me enough to be worth messing with." But pretty consistently, such claims are met with accusations of not having tried it correctly, or not having tried it with the best/newest AI model, or not having tried it for long enough. Thus, it seems that if you don't agree with maximum usage of AI, you must be…

i get your point. i've mixed result with AI tool like Github copilot and Jetbrains Junie.

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#78

The question posed sounds like "why should we have deterministic behavior if we can have non-deterministic behavior instead?" Am I wrong to think that the answer is obvious? I mean, who wants web apps to behave differently every time you interact with them?

Like, for sure you can ask the AI to save it's "settings" or "context" to a local file in a format of its own choosing, and then bring that back in the next prompt ; couple this with temperature 0 and you should get to a fixed-point deterministic app immediately

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#79
post #54

Why would you need webapps when you could just talk out loud to your computer ? Why would I need programs with colors, buttons, actual UI ? I am trying to imagine a future where file navigators don't even exist : "I want to see the photos I took while I was in vacations last year. Yes, can you remove that cloud ? Perfect, now send it to XXXX's computer and say something nice." "Can you set some timers for my sport se…

This will eventually cause such reduction of agency that it will be perceived as fundamental threat to one's sense of freedom. I predict it will cause humanity to split into a group that accepts this, and one that rejects it at its fundamental level. We're already seeing the beginning of this with vinyl sales skyrocketing (back to 90s levels).

Re: Show HN: Why write code if the LLM can just do the thing? (web app experiment)

#80
If anyone is interested in a CRUD serverless backend, I built https://saasufy.com/

I'm looking for users who want to be co-owners of the platform. It supports pretty much any feature you may need to build complex applications including views/filtering, indexing (incl. Support for compound keys), JWT auth, access control. Efficient real-time updates. It's been battle tested with apps with relatively advanced search requirements.

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