Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 205 posts

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#101

Post by immortalloom »

elwell wrote: post #90

Does no one have latent fears from being asked to make tweaks to atrocious Dreamweaver-generated websites?

LOL! I'm old enough that I have experienced Dreamweaver before. And I can pleasantly say it's not like that! So far, the code that I've been able to generate looks like well written code that any reasonable developer would have written.

Also, there are elements of the generated code that are created from compilers (human written files that compile into source files). So these code files are always 100% accurate and deterministic.

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#102

Post by rkuodys »

immortalloom wrote: post #86
rkuodys wrote: post #84

Honestly was waiting for something like this (or at least the version I imagined it would be) In my imagination - what I'd like to have as a lead of a small dev team - basically to write AI/Bot whatever, what is the issue, and for THAT tool to fix me the issue. Coming from non-tech company, where software development is not core business, we struggle to hire _good_ developers to give them a enough _interesting_ work…

Thanks! Yes I see it the same way! Today, my bots specialize in Next.js (React). Honestly I haven't had a lot of requests for Angular, but I suspect that is because I have mostly been working with startups. My intent is to support any major UI framework that my customers ask for. I would bet that I will eventually support Angular for this reason, but it will depend on demand.

I'd like to subscribe to the news but cannot find a place for it. Am I bad at finding it or is it not implemented?

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#103

Post by dimal »

Cool idea, but I'm confused about the demo. Sure, it generated a lot of code. Does that code actually work and do what you asked? It would be helpful to show the app it created actually running. And the music... lower energy at a lower volume would be better. I had to mute it in order to get through the video. Something a little less in-your-face.

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#104

Post by dragonwriter »

yieldcrv wrote: post #76
immortalloom wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea, it's going to be interesting to see how this all unfolds. In my opinion, the future of software development looks like this: 1) Human developer instructs A.I. bots to build large volumes of code (like Second) 2) Human developer uses A.I. code assistants in the IDE to make "low level" changes or additions I do not believe that developers or engineers will be replaced. The world needs more software, and there's no…

I absolutely think people wont get hired though, that otherwise would Instead of looking for layoffs, look for the jobs and payment transactions never happening Note: this doesn't bother me

> I absolutely think people wont get hired though, that otherwise would

If it is successful, it increases jobs in the field, while shifting skill demands to higher levels of analysis/abstraction. Just like every change improvement in how you program computers since "physically configure wiring or switches".

Possibly some individuals won't get hired in the field that otherwise would have, but the size of the field developing software isn't likely to shrink because of it.

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#105

Post by efishnc »

What could be nice is the developer providing some unit tests, and Second using those to ensure the PR is functional, re-generating if not.

Given a set of tests, I guess you could try to generate the code as well, though I could imagine it might overfit on the given tests and create a "hack" solution.

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#106

Post by immortalloom »

efishnc wrote: post #105

What could be nice is the developer providing some unit tests, and Second using those to ensure the PR is functional, re-generating if not. Given a set of tests, I guess you could try to generate the code as well, though I could imagine it might overfit on the given tests and create a "hack" solution.

One of the great things about Second is that uses GitHub as the handoff of code between bot to human. This means you can run your own CI against the code changes that the bot generates, triggered by GitHub actions.

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#107

Post by [deleted] »

lettergram wrote: post #94
atleta wrote: post #70

While I have been expecting AI to replace programmers for a while, the thing I was never sure about whether this will manifest itself as a business for some companies or whether it means the end of people creating apps altogether. Another risk for building businesses on AI in general is that unlike with software that anyone can build (e.g. for a niche), AI solutions seem to be costly because they require a lot of dat…

I just released - https://vocalvoters.com/ It sends an AI generated letter to a congress person in a seconds. Users can edit it, but frankly the results are amazingly good. I bring it up because effectively exactly what you described - a shim on top of 4 APIs. (Code is open sourced, link on the site) The question is how will AI replace what I have? The AI might get better, but ultimately someone has to mail the lette…

[deleted]

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#108

Post by shadowcodex »

ethbr0 wrote: post #81
immortalloom wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great question! So all of the files are generated with either compiles or GPT-3, or if the files already exist on the repo and need to be modified, the bots use GPT-3 code edits to modify the files. $299/project/month will sound expensive if you compare it to starter kits (usually free), templates (usually Also, yea pricing is hard! It may change.

$299/month sounds pretty reasonable if it does what it says on the tin. That's $3.6k/year. You don't need to make up many development hours before you've paid that back. And it seems like there's good opportunity to stratify billing via modules -- Using only the basic stuff? $. Using more advanced / larger modules? $$.

I agree. I think if it continues to grow it will pay dividends back in development hours saved.

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#109

Post by immortalloom »

dimal wrote: post #103

Cool idea, but I'm confused about the demo. Sure, it generated a lot of code. Does that code actually work and do what you asked? It would be helpful to show the app it created actually running. And the music... lower energy at a lower volume would be better. I had to mute it in order to get through the video. Something a little less in-your-face.

Agree 100%! I need to make a new video that shows pulling down the code locally, compiling, and running. I also want to create a temp hosting service so people can run the code as well to see what they are getting.

Lol about music - I get it! I'll tone it down next time. Fun fact – the first version of the song was actually more energetic! I'll fix this. Maybe some lo-fi.

Re: Launch HN: Second (YC W23) – AI bots that add features to web apps

#110

Post by immortalloom »

mritchie712 wrote: post #98
immortalloom wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also about being a solo founder. It's rough!

I know solo founder is #1 on this list, but fights between founders is #17, so we're in the clear on that one. http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html

Trust me, I know alllll about co-founder conflict.
Post reply on HN