Why agents are bad pair programmers

Post by apwell23 » Tue, Jun 10, 2025, 11:34 PM UTC

jyounker wrote: post #218

apwell23 wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This ensures the LLM has a complete understanding of the overall goals Forget about overall goal. I have this simple instruction that i send on every request "stop after every failing unit test and discuss implementation with me before writing source code " but it only does that about 7 times out of 10. Other times it just proceeds with implementation anyways.

So it behaves just like a person.

Post by UltraSane » Wed, Jun 11, 2025, 2:03 AM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #207

Bob_LaBLahh wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I find it interesting that LLMs seem pretty good at spitting out SQL that works well enough. But on the other hand LLMs seem pretty awful at working with CSS. I wonder if this is due to a difference in the amount of training data available for SQL vs CSS, or is this because CSS is a finicky pain in the ass when compared to SQL.

interesting. I've been having a great time telling the LLMs to generate CSS for me so I don't have to fight with tailwind

Post by jappgar » Wed, Jun 11, 2025, 3:00 AM UTC

34679 wrote: post #146

Traster wrote: post #120

I think this has put into words a reason why I bounced off using AI this way, when I need something done I often have a rough idea of how I want it done, and how AI does it often doesn't match what I want, but because it's gone off and written a 2,000 lines of code it's suddenly more work for me to go through and say "Ok, so first off, strip all these comments out, you're doubling the file with trivial explanations o…

Just like with human engineers, you need to start with a planning session. This involves a back and forth discussion to hammer out the details before writing any code. I start off as vague as possible to see if the LLM recommends anything I hadn't thought of, then get more detailed as I go. When I'm satisfied, I have it create 2 documents, initialprompt.txt and TODO.md. The initial prompt file includes a summary of t…

Post by flashgordon » Wed, Jun 11, 2025, 3:18 AM UTC

Traster wrote: post #120

I think this has put into words a reason why I bounced off using AI this way, when I need something done I often have a rough idea of how I want it done, and how AI does it often doesn't match what I want, but because it's gone off and written a 2,000 lines of code it's suddenly more work for me to go through and say "Ok, so first off, strip all these comments out, you're doubling the file with trivial explanations o…

Post by bluefirebrand » Wed, Jun 11, 2025, 2:33 PM UTC

amazingamazing wrote: post #3

bluefirebrand wrote: post #2

Pair programming is also not suitable for all cases Maybe not for many cases I mentioned this elsewhere but I find it absolutely impossible to get into a good programming flow anymore while the LLM constantly interrupts me with suggested autocompletes that I have to stop, read, review, and accept/reject It's been miserable trying to incorporate this into my workflow

Code regularly, and use ai to get unblocked if you do so or review code for mistakes. Or have the ai write the entire first draft for some piece and then you give it a once over, correcting it either manually or with prompts.