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I'm dialing back my LLM usage

zed.dev

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Re: I'm dialing back my LLM usage

#101

Post by bird0861 »

capt_obvious_77 wrote: post #16
quaintdev wrote: post #6

LLMs have limits. They are super powerful but they can't make the kind of leap humans can. For example, I asked both Claude and Gemini below problem. "I want to run webserver on Android but it does not allow binding on ports lower than 1000. What are my options?" Both responded with below solutions 1. Use reverse proxy 2. Root the phone 3. Run on higher port Even after asking them to rethink they couldn't come up wit…

Off-topic, but reading your article about hosting a website on your phone inspired me a lot. Is that possible on a non-jail-broken phone? And what webserver would you suggest?

Just use termux.

Re: I'm dialing back my LLM usage

#102

Post by causal »

criddell wrote: post #70
noisy_boy wrote: post #29

I think they are making me more productive in achieving my targets and worse in my ability to program. They are exactly like steroids - bigger muscles fast but tons of side effects and everything collapses the moment you stop. Companies don't care because they are more concerned about getting to their targets fast instead of your health. Another harmful drug for our brain if consumed without moderation. I won't entir…

Your steroids comparison made me think of Cal Newport's recent blog post[1] where he argues that AI is making us lazy. He quotes some researchers who hooked people up to EEG machines then had them work. The people working without AI assistance incurred more brain "strain" and that's probably a good thing. But even he doesn't think AI shouldn't be used. Go ahead and use it for stuff like email but don't use it for you…

I haven't read the entire paper, but just looking at the abstract and conclusion it ironically seems...lazy? Like we're going to have some people use ChatGPT 4 times in 4 months and draw conclusions on long-term brain activity based on that? How do you even control for noise in such a study?

I'm generally sympathetic to the idea that LLMs can create atrophy in our ability to code or whatever, but I dislike that this clickbaity study gets shared so much.

Re: I'm dialing back my LLM usage

#103

Post by kamens »

Personally, I follow the simple rule: "I type every single character myself. The AI/agent/etc offers inspiration." It's an effective balance between embracing what the tech can do (I'm dialing up my usage) and maintaining my personal connection to the code (I'm having fun + keeping things in my head).

I wrote about it: https://kamens.com/blog/code-with-ai-the-hard-way

Re: I'm dialing back my LLM usage

#104

Post by Arathorn »

_flux wrote: post #14
quaintdev wrote: post #6

LLMs have limits. They are super powerful but they can't make the kind of leap humans can. For example, I asked both Claude and Gemini below problem. "I want to run webserver on Android but it does not allow binding on ports lower than 1000. What are my options?" Both responded with below solutions 1. Use reverse proxy 2. Root the phone 3. Run on higher port Even after asking them to rethink they couldn't come up wit…

TIL. I knew about the SRV reconds—which almost nobody uses I think?—but this was news to me. I guess it's also actually supported, unlike SRV that are more like supported only by some applications? Matrix migrated from SRV to .well-known files for providing the data. (Or I maybe it supports both.)

Matrix supports both; when you're trying to get Matrix deployed on someone's domain it's a crapshoot on whether they have permission to write to .well-known on the webroot (and if they do, the chances of it getting vaped by a CMS update are high)... or whether they have permission to set DNS records.

Re: I'm dialing back my LLM usage

#106

Post by WD-42 »

nico wrote: post #47
x187463 wrote: post #11

Am I spending too much time on HN or is every post/comment section filled with this same narrative? Basically, LLMs are exciting but they produce messy code for which the dev feels no ownership. Managing a codebase written by an LLM is difficult because you have not cognitively loaded the entire thing into your head as you do with code written yourself. They're okay for one-off scripts or projects you do not intend t…

> Managing a codebase written by an LLM is difficult because you have not cognitively loaded the entire thing into your head as you do with code written yourself This happens with any sufficiently big/old codebase. We can never remember everything, even if we wrote it ourselves I do agree with the sentiment and insight about the 2 branches of topics frequently seen lately on HN about AI-assisted coding Would really l…

The difference is at the moment of writing, you understand it. A LLM outputs a giant glob and you immediately don’t understand it.

Re: I'm dialing back my LLM usage

#107

Post by causal »

pimlottc wrote: post #46
quaintdev wrote: post #6

LLMs have limits. They are super powerful but they can't make the kind of leap humans can. For example, I asked both Claude and Gemini below problem. "I want to run webserver on Android but it does not allow binding on ports lower than 1000. What are my options?" Both responded with below solutions 1. Use reverse proxy 2. Root the phone 3. Run on higher port Even after asking them to rethink they couldn't come up wit…

To be fair, the question implies the port number of the local service is the problem, when it's more about making sure users can access it without needing to specify a port number in the URL. Yes, an experienced person might be able to suss out what the real problem was, but it's not really the LLMs fault for answering the specific question it was asked. Maybe you just wanted to run a server for testing and didn't re…

Yeah LLMs are generally going to pursue a solution to the question, not figure out the need behind the ask.

Not to mention the solution did end up being to use a higher port number...

Re: I'm dialing back my LLM usage

#108

Post by Hackbraten »

mandevil wrote: post #35
danielbln wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I would measure LLMs on recommending a fairly obscure and rather new spec that isn't even fully supported by e.g. Chrome. That's a leap that I, a human, wouldn't have made either.

On the other hand, I find that "someone who has read all the blogs and papers and so can suggest something you might have missed" is my favorite use case for LLM, so seeing that it can miss a useful (and novel to me) idea is annoying.

Which is easier for you to remember: facts you’ve seen a hundred times in your lifetime, or facts you’ve seen once or twice?

For an LLM, I’d expect it to be similar. It can recall the stuff it’s seen thousands of times, but has a hard time recalling the niche/underdocumented stuff that it’s seen just a dozen times.

Re: I'm dialing back my LLM usage

#109

Post by jjangkke »

The problem with zed's narrative is that because he failed to use it in productive ways he wants to dial it back altogether but its not clear what he has actually attempted and people dogpiling here reminds me of artists who are hostile to AI tools, it doesn't accurately reflect the true state of the marketplace which actually puts a lot of value on successful LLM/AI tool use especially in the context of software development.

If you extrapolate this blog then we shouldn't be having so much success with LLMs, we shouldn't be able to ship product with fewer people, and we should be hiring junior developers.

But the truth of the matter is, especially for folks that work on agents focusing on software development is that we can see a huge tidal shift happening in ways similar to artists, photographers, translators and copywriters have experienced.

The blog sells the idea that LLM is not productive and needs to be dialed down does not tell the whole story. This does not mean I am saying LLM should be used in all scenarios, there are clearly situations where it might not be desirable, but overall the productivity hinderance narrative I repeatedly see on HN isn't convincing and I suspect is highly biased.

Re: I'm dialing back my LLM usage

#110

Post by ukFxqnLa2sBSBf6 »

criddell wrote: post #70
noisy_boy wrote: post #29

I think they are making me more productive in achieving my targets and worse in my ability to program. They are exactly like steroids - bigger muscles fast but tons of side effects and everything collapses the moment you stop. Companies don't care because they are more concerned about getting to their targets fast instead of your health. Another harmful drug for our brain if consumed without moderation. I won't entir…

Your steroids comparison made me think of Cal Newport's recent blog post[1] where he argues that AI is making us lazy. He quotes some researchers who hooked people up to EEG machines then had them work. The people working without AI assistance incurred more brain "strain" and that's probably a good thing. But even he doesn't think AI shouldn't be used. Go ahead and use it for stuff like email but don't use it for you…

Of all the things I think AI shouldn’t be used for AI is one of them (unless you’re like completely illiterate). Whenever I get a “project status update” and the section header emojis show up I instantly just want to throw that garage in the trash.
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