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Developer's block

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Re: Developer's block

#21

Post by lordnacho »

ktallett wrote: post #20
lordnacho wrote: post #18

I hate to turn everything into a conversation about AI, but this essay maybe explains best what LLMs have done for me recently. Particularly the first part. I want to add a new feature, but I want to keep things clean. It needs tests, CI, documentation. It makes exploring new ideas a bit cumbersome, because code tends to create minor distractions that eat up time. You miss a semicolon, or you forget the order of the…

Are you giving the LLM your code and letting it add a new feature to see how it works? Or what? How successful do you find your method? Would you recode what you introduced using the LLM?

Yeah I let the LLM look at the code and ask it to implement some change.

It works pretty well with Claude Code. Much better than cursor, which is a step up from copilot. Even with the same models, and I'm not sure why. I haven't really tweaked much around the AI tools, since I don't really know much about how they work.

I've just found that Claude Code somehow... just works. Out of the box, no MCPs, no fancy configs. I just straight up tell it what I want, and most of the time it gets it right or close enough to right that a second instruction is all I need.

Would I recode what I wrote? Maybe not from the ground up, since I already had a pretty good framework. But LLM has managed to make some pretty fiddly changes to my codebase recently. It would have taken me a long time, mostly in tedious edits.

Re: Developer's block

#23

Post by esperent »

Martin_Silenus wrote: post #17

Sleep. Best side task for your brain. How many times has this happened to me? You struggle with a feature or a bug, you think about it, you weigh the pros and cons for hours... because you don't want to start something that will set you back. You're tired, but you don't want to go to sleep until you've at least made a decision for tomorrow. Go to sleep. Now. Then you wake up knowing immediately what to do. You hardly…

Also exercise.

Sleep restores you. Exercise is the spark.

Re: Developer's block

#24

Post by skydhash »

lordnacho wrote: post #18

I hate to turn everything into a conversation about AI, but this essay maybe explains best what LLMs have done for me recently. Particularly the first part. I want to add a new feature, but I want to keep things clean. It needs tests, CI, documentation. It makes exploring new ideas a bit cumbersome, because code tends to create minor distractions that eat up time. You miss a semicolon, or you forget the order of the…

For me I prefer to keep things granular. Like: add the endpoint; validate the input; return sample data; connect to the db and return something from it;…. It’s easier to go with small wins. I have the plan/design/architecture to keep me pointed in the right direction.

Re: Developer's block

#25

Post by aswanson »

Martin_Silenus wrote: post #17

Sleep. Best side task for your brain. How many times has this happened to me? You struggle with a feature or a bug, you think about it, you weigh the pros and cons for hours... because you don't want to start something that will set you back. You're tired, but you don't want to go to sleep until you've at least made a decision for tomorrow. Go to sleep. Now. Then you wake up knowing immediately what to do. You hardly…

Facts. I don't do the late hours on code anymore either. Rest is essential.

Re: Developer's block

#26

Post by petesergeant »

JimDabell wrote: post #6

I’ve also found that LLMs are great for getting past developer’s block. “What next?” can overcome inertia quite easily.

That and I find it’s usually easier to start with a shitty first attempt that kind of works that you’re then refactoring

Re: Developer's block

#27

Post by ekidd »

JimDabell wrote: post #6

I’ve also found that LLMs are great for getting past developer’s block. “What next?” can overcome inertia quite easily.

Yup, I don't use models to write serious code. But if my brain is totally blocked, perhaps after half day of meetings, I do sometimes take a smaller local model, explain a simple task to it, and let it try to implement to my specs. At this point I'm usually annoyed and engaged enough to get back in the zone.

If a human is available, 30 minutes of pairing works even better. There's just something about breaking tasks down and getting even simple feedback that makes it a good jumpstart.

Re: Developer's block

#28

Post by kryptiskt »

When faced with a big task and not knowing where and how to start, a trick I like is writing something crappy that is roughly a step in the right direction. For example, if you're building a web browser (huge monumental task), just load a page with your favorite http lib and display it, html tags and all. You know that none of that code will survive, but it's something that you can build on, and in due time you'll come around and replace it with the right design.

Re: Developer's block

#29

Post by EdwardCoffin »

The Oxide and Friends podcast [1] did a whole episode on this: Coder's Block (25 Oct 2021) [2].

It had some good stuff in it, the best of which (for me) was: when stuck, write debugging infrastructure.

[1] https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm

[2] https://oxide-and-friends.transistor.fm/episodes/coders-bloc...

Edit: punctuation

Re: Developer's block

#30

Post by oldmandev »

Martin_Silenus wrote: post #17

Sleep. Best side task for your brain. How many times has this happened to me? You struggle with a feature or a bug, you think about it, you weigh the pros and cons for hours... because you don't want to start something that will set you back. You're tired, but you don't want to go to sleep until you've at least made a decision for tomorrow. Go to sleep. Now. Then you wake up knowing immediately what to do. You hardly…

I agree that sleep and exercise are key.

Some have pain and/or insomnia waking them up at night with the inability to get back to sleep quickly or at all, and some have pain/injuries that make exercise less fun.

Telling us to sleep and exercise is like telling homeless and starving people to get off the streets, find a job, eat a good dinner, and buy a house. It sounds nice, and we’ll do our best, but the world you live in is different, and you don’t understand.

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