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Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

cekrem.github.io

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Re: Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

#11

Post by 1123581321 »

cjs_ac wrote: post #6
Handprint4469 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we were required to engage in 'reflexive practice', meaning at the end of the school day, we were expected to sit down and think about - reflect - on what had happened that day. That is _reflective_ practice (which involves reflection). Reflexive otoh comes from 'reflex', which does suggest unthinking automaticity.

No, reflexive and reflective are synonyms; they are alternative forms of adjectives derived from the Latin verb flecto , flectere , flexi , flexum (note that both English spellings are present in the principal parts).

They both have multiple meanings in English. The article was using reflexive this way: “ characterized by habitual and unthinking behavior.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reflexive

Is that fair to the word given its roots, no, but that is English for you. :)

Re: Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

#13

Post by bellBivDinesh »

TheChaplain wrote: post #9

I like the article. At the same time, as AI takes over the actual coding practice more and more, I find the situation with multiple programming languages a waste of resources. If AI could generate binaries, web assembly directly, or even some "AI specific bytecode" then we could skip the steps in the middle and save a ton of energy.

In this scenario are humans not making changes to existing code anymore?

Re: Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

#14

Post by [deleted] »

cjs_ac wrote: post #6
Handprint4469 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we were required to engage in 'reflexive practice', meaning at the end of the school day, we were expected to sit down and think about - reflect - on what had happened that day. That is _reflective_ practice (which involves reflection). Reflexive otoh comes from 'reflex', which does suggest unthinking automaticity.

No, reflexive and reflective are synonyms; they are alternative forms of adjectives derived from the Latin verb flecto , flectere , flexi , flexum (note that both English spellings are present in the principal parts).

[deleted]

Re: Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

#15

Post by fnordlord »

cjs_ac wrote: post #6
Handprint4469 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we were required to engage in 'reflexive practice', meaning at the end of the school day, we were expected to sit down and think about - reflect - on what had happened that day. That is _reflective_ practice (which involves reflection). Reflexive otoh comes from 'reflex', which does suggest unthinking automaticity.

No, reflexive and reflective are synonyms; they are alternative forms of adjectives derived from the Latin verb flecto , flectere , flexi , flexum (note that both English spellings are present in the principal parts).

Regardless of etymology, I believe the use of “reflexive” means something different in the article than “reflective.” The Shopify CEO isn’t describing insightful use of AI in coding. He is describing automatic, unthinking use of AI. At least, that it was my understanding.

Re: Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

#16

Post by cjs_ac »

1123581321 wrote: post #11
cjs_ac wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, reflexive and reflective are synonyms; they are alternative forms of adjectives derived from the Latin verb flecto , flectere , flexi , flexum (note that both English spellings are present in the principal parts).

They both have multiple meanings in English. The article was using reflexive this way: “ characterized by habitual and unthinking behavior.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reflexive Is that fair to the word given its roots, no, but that is English for you. :)

As bad as Merriam-Webster is, you might notice that 'characterised by habitual and unthinking behaviour' is the fourth, i.e., least common, definition offered, not the first.

Re: Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

#17

Post by ericyd »

I also appreciate the craft of coding. My suspicion is that eventually it just won't be a thing anymore, even though such a future is not my preference. Not that humans will be completely removed from coding, but writing every line yourself will just be incredibly uncommon and not industry standard. I'm not good at predicting, this is just where my gut is right now.

Re: Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

#18

Post by 1123581321 »

cjs_ac wrote: post #16
1123581321 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They both have multiple meanings in English. The article was using reflexive this way: “ characterized by habitual and unthinking behavior.” https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reflexive Is that fair to the word given its roots, no, but that is English for you. :)

As bad as Merriam-Webster is, you might notice that 'characterised by habitual and unthinking behaviour' is the fourth , i.e. , least common, definition offered, not the first.

Somehow I knew you would keep digging. :) It’s not marked as an archaic so any of them are valid. Context tells the reader which is being used.

Re: Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

#19

Post by lm28469 »

porvertylk wrote: post #8
lm28469 wrote: post #4

But then again most IT jobs are the equivalent of flipping burgers at mcdonald's, nobody's asking them to be Michelin starred chefs.

I wish I could make six figures flipping burgers. Actually, why aren't most burger flippers applying for IT jobs?

I wish I was making 100k as a dev, but plot twist outside of the US this is the minority.

I was comparing burger flippers to michelin chefs, not to devs. The vast majority of devs are gluing tools together and working on basic CRUD stuff, which is the burger flipping of the tech world. It's just a job, people don't want to think about code in the shower, on walks, or "cry" about tech problems as the author seems to romanticise. A job is here to provide money so you can live life, not the other way around. If I can automate my burger flipping to go to the gym or read a book instead I'll gladly do it

Re: Coding as Craft: Going Back to the Old Gym

#20

Post by rco8786 »

ericyd wrote: post #17

I also appreciate the craft of coding. My suspicion is that eventually it just won't be a thing anymore, even though such a future is not my preference. Not that humans will be completely removed from coding, but writing every line yourself will just be incredibly uncommon and not industry standard. I'm not good at predicting, this is just where my gut is right now.

This is a similar reaction folks had to autocomplete/intellisense when it came out also. "What you just press tab and get all the possible options. Psh, how about reading the docs like the rest of us did?". I think AI is a pretty big step function up in terms of the computer's capability to predict the code you want - but at the end of the day we'll still be writing code (I think. I hope).
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