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With AI you need to think bigger

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Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#91

Post by albert_e »

tux3 wrote: post #86
haswell wrote: post #24

I recently discovered that some of the Raspberry Pi models support the Linux Kernel's "Gadget Mode". This allows you to configure the Pi to appear as some type of device when plugged into a USB port, i.e. a Mass Storage/USB stick, Network Card, etc. Very nifty for turning a Pi Zero into various kinds of utilities. When I realized this was possible, I wanted to set up a project that would allow me to use the Pi as a b…

Fun fact: Gadget mode also works on Android phones, if you want a programmable USB device that you can easily program and carry around I made a PoC of a 2FA authenticator (think Yubikey) that automatically signs you in. I use it for testing scenarios when I have to log out and back in many times, it flies through what would otherwise be a manual 2FA screen with pin entry, or navigating 2FA popups to select passkey an…

Interesting !

I have a bunch of older android phones that could be repurposed for some tinkering.

The touchscreen display and input would open a lot more interactive possibilities.

Is there a community or gallery of ideas and projects that leverage this?

Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#92

Post by xrd »

Where are the LLM leaderboards for software estimation accuracy?

I have been using Claude Code and Aider and I do think they provide incredibly exciting potential. I can spin up new projects with mind boggling results. And, I can start projects in domains where I previously had almost no experience. It is truly exciting.

AND...

The thing I worry most about is that now non-technical managers can go into Claude and say "build me XYZ!" and the AI will build a passable first version. But, any experienced software person knows that the true cost of software is in the maintenance. That's 90% of the cost. Reducing that starting point to zero cost only reduces the total cost of software by 10%, but people are making it seem like you no longer need a software engineer that understands complex systems. Or, maybe that is just my fears vocalized.

I have seen LLMs dig into old and complex codebases and fix things that I was not expecting them to handle. I tend to write a lot of tests in my code, so I can see that the tests pass and the code compiles. The barbarians have come over the walls, truly.

But, IMHO, there is still a space where we cannot ask any of the AI coding tools to review a spec and say "Will you get this done in 2 months?" I don't think we are there, yet. I don't see that the context window is big enough to jam entire codebases inside it, and I don't yet see that these tools can anticipate a project growing into hundreds of files and managing the interdepedencies between them. They are good at writing tests, and I am impressed by that, so there is a pathway. I'm excited to understand more about how aider creates a map of the repository and effectively compresses the information in ways similar to how I keep track of high level ideas.

But, it still feels very early and there are gaps. And, I think we are in for a rude awakening when people start thinking this pushes the cost and complexity of software projects to zero. I love the potential for AI coding, but it feels like it is dangerously marketing and sales driven right now and full of hype.

Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#93

Post by CokeFaultSoyuz »

tqwhite wrote: post #43

Using AI has changed everything for me and made my ambition swell. I despise looking up the details of frameworks and api’s, transmitting a change of strategy through a system, typing the usual stupid loops and processes that are the foundation of all programs. Hell, the amount of time I save on typing errors is worth it. I have plans for many things I didn’t have the energy for in the past.

[flagged]

Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#94

Post by CokeFaultSoyuz »

Xen9 wrote: post #51

What psychedelic/mind-altering/weird coaching prompts do you use? I have separate system prompts for taboo-teaching, excessive-pedanticism, excessive-toxicity, excessive-praise, et cetera. My general rules is anything & everything humans would never ever do, but that would somehow allow me to explore altered states of consciousness, ways of thinking, my mind, the world, better. Something to make me smarter from the e…

[flagged]

Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#95

Post by redman25 »

keeptrying wrote: post #25
klabb3 wrote: post #13

As a mostly LLM-skeptic I reluctantly agree this is something AI actually does well. When approaching unfamiliar territory, LLMs (1) use simple language (improvement over academia but also much professional intentionally obfuscated literature), (2) use the right abstraction (they seem good at ”zooming out” to big picture of things, and (3) you can move both laterally between topics and ”zoom in” quickly. Another way…

Yes. LLMs are the perfect learning assistant. You can now do literally anything. Literally. Going to take a while for everyone to figure this out but they will given time.

I spent a couple weekends trying to reimplement microsoft's inferencing for phi4 multimodal in rust. I had zero experience messing with ONNX before. Claude produced a believably good first pass but it ended up being too much work in the end and I've put it down for the moment.

I spent a lot of time fixing Claude's misunderstanding of the `ort` library, mainly because of Claude's knowledge cutoff. In the end, the draft just wasn't complete enough to get working without diving in really deep. I also kind of learned that ONNX probably isn't the best way to approach these things anymore. Most of the mindshare is around the python code and torch apis.

Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#96

Post by [deleted] »

TZubiri wrote: post #84
bloomingkales wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An undergrad using the hottest tech right of the bat? Cooked. What if I tell you there is an undergrad that just flunked a class and is depressed and cries about it? Considers changing their major? This is pre-AI. We have a chance that undergrads will never feel that way again. Not intimidated by anything.

There's a misconception that passing is worth 1 and flunking is worth 0. There's shitty ways to pass and good ways to pass

[deleted]

Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#97

Post by CaffeineLD50 »

I had a minor desire to make a feature that had a slightly higher effort than reward, so although I knew I could struggle it out I didn't bother.

After years of this I decided to give an AI a shot at the code. It produced something plausible looking and I was excited. Was it that easy?

The code didn't work. But the approach made me more motivated to look into it and I found a solution.

So although the AI gave me crap code it still inspired the answer, so I'm calling that a win.

Simply making things feel approachable can be enough.

Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#98

Post by someothherguyy »

xrd wrote: post #92

Where are the LLM leaderboards for software estimation accuracy? I have been using Claude Code and Aider and I do think they provide incredibly exciting potential. I can spin up new projects with mind boggling results. And, I can start projects in domains where I previously had almost no experience. It is truly exciting. AND... The thing I worry most about is that now non-technical managers can go into Claude and say…

> I can spin up new projects with mind boggling results

Boggle a skeptical mind

Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#99

Post by tux3 »

albert_e wrote: post #91
tux3 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fun fact: Gadget mode also works on Android phones, if you want a programmable USB device that you can easily program and carry around I made a PoC of a 2FA authenticator (think Yubikey) that automatically signs you in. I use it for testing scenarios when I have to log out and back in many times, it flies through what would otherwise be a manual 2FA screen with pin entry, or navigating 2FA popups to select passkey an…

Interesting ! I have a bunch of older android phones that could be repurposed for some tinkering. The touchscreen display and input would open a lot more interactive possibilities. Is there a community or gallery of ideas and projects that leverage this?

There is this repository: https://github.com/tejado/android-usb-gadget

They have some examples that emulate an USB keyboard and mouse, and the app shows how to configure the Gadget API to turn the phone into whatever USB device you want.

The repo is unfortunately inactive, but the underlying feature is exposed through a stable Linux kernel API (via ConfigFS), so everything will continue working as long as Android leaves the feature enabled.

You do need to be root, however, since you will essentially be writing a USB device. Then all you have to do is open `/dev/hidg0`, and when you read from this file you will be reading USB HID packets. Write your response and it is sent on the cable.

Re: With AI you need to think bigger

#100

Post by mentalgear »

xrd wrote: post #92

Where are the LLM leaderboards for software estimation accuracy? I have been using Claude Code and Aider and I do think they provide incredibly exciting potential. I can spin up new projects with mind boggling results. And, I can start projects in domains where I previously had almost no experience. It is truly exciting. AND... The thing I worry most about is that now non-technical managers can go into Claude and say…

The "coding benchmarks" like "SWE-verified" are actually of very low quality and the answer riddled with problems.

Good Explainer: "The Disturbing Reality of AI Coding" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnOc_kKKuac

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