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Reflecting on WikiTok

aizk.sh

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Re: Reflecting on WikiTok

#2

Post by timkq »

It's great that LLMs provide opportunity for non-software engineers to make tech products, but I wonder how those "vibe-coded" products will fare when faced with actually maintaining the code (and also accounting for tech debt..)

Re: Reflecting on WikiTok

#5

Post by lwansbrough »

> I built wikitok.io in about 2 hours (but not the iphone app that doesn't work, nor the play store rip off, nor wikitok.net but I'm getting ahead of myself). It all came from this tweet.

This phrasing seems to suggest they think they invented the idea of "TikTok but it's Wikipedia". I see the author is OP, so my suggestion might be to consider rephrasing a bit as it comes off a bit accusatory.

I did try my hand on this project after seeing this bare-bones viral version. (I had the same idea in my notes app dated a couple years ago.) I went a different route, opting to pre-parse wikitext via my own API to deliver the app an AST that can be rendered natively & prettier than your standard Wikipedia page. Not a fun format to parse. Not fun at all. I don't recommend it. And it took significantly longer than 2 hours and was never released, so props to the author for turning this project around so fast.

Re: Reflecting on WikiTok

#6

Post by Onavo »

timkq wrote: post #2

It's great that LLMs provide opportunity for non-software engineers to make tech products, but I wonder how those "vibe-coded" products will fare when faced with actually maintaining the code (and also accounting for tech debt..)

But OP is a software engineer, I doubt a non software engineer can turn around a vibe coded app so quickly.

Re: Reflecting on WikiTok

#7

Post by pajamasam »

I like this point of view:

> And with regards to AI taking jobs - it obviously will become a serious problem in future. But being a doomer right now is like lying down in a parking lot waiting to get run over - you're surrendering to a pointless outcome while the rest of the world keeps moving. There's still so much to build and accomplish.

Re: Reflecting on WikiTok

#8

Post by pajamasam »

timkq wrote: post #2

It's great that LLMs provide opportunity for non-software engineers to make tech products, but I wonder how those "vibe-coded" products will fare when faced with actually maintaining the code (and also accounting for tech debt..)

It's not like we're doing very well with maintenance and tech debt in any case. AI might be able to help with that in the future.

Re: Reflecting on WikiTok

#9

Post by Jdfmiller »

This:

  And with regards to AI taking jobs - it obviously will become a serious problem in future. But being a doomer right now is like lying down in a parking lot waiting to get run over - you're surrendering to a pointless outcome while the rest of the world keeps moving.
Great sentiment. I've had a similar experience with LLMs and writing code - helpful when keeping the requests small, and a background in the area is essential for knowing what is and isn't total crap. Feel the fear and do it anyway.

Inspiring to see you take on a different career path and go for it, I feel i'm on a similar journey right now, thanks for taking the time to write it up.

Re: Reflecting on WikiTok

#10

Post by blueflow »

pajamasam wrote: post #8
timkq wrote: post #2

It's great that LLMs provide opportunity for non-software engineers to make tech products, but I wonder how those "vibe-coded" products will fare when faced with actually maintaining the code (and also accounting for tech debt..)

It's not like we're doing very well with maintenance and tech debt in any case. AI might be able to help with that in the future.

Look at your tech stack, go down until you come to the level where things "just work". This is where the maintained software begins. The stuff you fill your docker base images with.
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