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If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

stephenramsay.net

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Re: If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

#241

Post by antisthenes »

SoftTalker wrote: post #137
colechristensen wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A significant part of my LLM workflow involves having the LLM write and update tickets for me. It can make a vague ticket precise and that can be an easy platform to have discussions with stakeholders.

Wait until you learn that the people on the other side of your ticket updates are also using LLMs to respond. It's LLMs talking to LLMs now.

Wait until you learn that most people's writing skills are that of below LLMs, so it's an actual tangible improvement (as long as you review the output for details not being missed, of course)

Re: If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

#242

Post by nylonstrung »

markstos wrote: post #105

I have successfully vibe-coded features in C. I still don't like C. The agent forgets to free memory latter just like a human would and has to go back and fix it later. On the other hand, I've enjoyed vibe coding Rust more, because I'm interested in Rust and felt like my understanding approved along they way as I saw what code was produced. A lot of coding "talent" isn't skill with the language, it's learning all the…

I think arenas might be better memory management technique when vibe coding C, for this reason

Re: If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

#243

Post by whimsicalism »

pron wrote: post #238
gitremote wrote: post #33

Software development jobs must be very diverse if even this anti-vibe-coding guy thinks AI coding definitely makes developers more productive. In my work, the bigger bottleneck to productivity is that very few people can correctly articulate requirements. I work in backend, API development, which is completely different from fullstack development with backend development. If you ask PMs about backend requirements, th…

The thing is that some imagined AI that can reliably produce reliable software will also likely be able to be smart enough to come up with the requirements on its own. If vibe coding is that capable, then even vibe coding itself is redundant. In other words, vibe coding cannot possibly be "the future", because the moment vibe coding can do all that, vibe coding doesn't need to exist. The converse is that if vibe codi…

I agree with the first part which is basically 'being able to do a software engineers full job' is basically ASI/AGI complete.

But I think it is certainly possible that we reach a point/plateau where everything is just 'english -> code' compilation but that 'vibe coding' compilation step is really really good.

Re: If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

#245

Post by letmeinhere »

If you want to get to a higher level compiler, prompt fondling will not suffice; you need to master formal specification. Then machine learning algorithms can do the program synthesis to implement the spec. But just talking out your vague software requirements with a chatbot is not analogous to programming.

Also, like others said, even once you have your formal spec, C is a particularly bad choice (unless you want to specify quite a bit more). You want the program implemented in a language with as many safety constraints on it as possible, not one where you have to mentally track memory.

Re: If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

#246

Post by colechristensen »

Yeask wrote: post #227
colechristensen wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The desired result is coming to a documented agreement on an interaction, not some exercise in argument that has to happen between humans. I find having an LLM create tickets for itself to implement to be an effective tool that I rarely have to provide feedback for at all. This seems like greybeards complaining that people who don't write assembly by hand.

Who has ever complained that kids don't write assembly by hand? Stop being outraged for things that are only real on your mind.

Speaking of things that are only real in your mind...

Am I outraged?

And yes, there absolutely was a vocal group of a certain type of programmer complaining about high level languages like C and their risks and inefficiency and lack of control insisting that real programmers wrote code in assembly. It's hard to find references because google sucks these days and I'm not really willing to put in the effort.

Re: If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

#247

Post by ghiculescu »

Along the same lines, I am rewriting a React Native app into native Swift and Kotlin versions. I haven’t written any of the native code directly - it’s all vibed. It’s not C but there’s a lot of upside in letting Claude Code compile my wishes into native languages and skip the RN layer.

Re: If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

#248

Post by keeda »

lunar_mycroft wrote: post #161
epolanski wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No I'm not, I'm just sick of these edgy takes where AI does not improve productivity when it obviously does. Even if you limit your AI experience to finding information online through deep research it's such a time saver and productivity booster that makes a lot of difference. The list of things it can do for you is massive, even if you don't have it write a single line of code. Yet the counter argument is like "bu..…

It "obviously" does based on what, exactly? For most devs (and it appears you, based on your comments) the answer is "their own subjective impressions", but that METR study ( https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.09089 ) should have completely killed any illusions that that is a reliable metric (note: this argument works regardless of how much LLMs have improved since the study period, because it's about how accurate dev's impr…

Yes, self-reported productivity is unreliable, but there have been other, larger, more rigorous, empirical studies on real-world tasks which we should be talking about instead. The majority of them consistently show a productivity boost. A thread that mentions and briefly discusses some of those:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45379452

Re: If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

#249

Post by lcfcjs6 »

BobBagwill wrote: post #240

Vibe Coding is just a stepping stone to No Coding. No one (other than computer people) wants computers and software, they want results. This generation of AI will be used to bootstrap the next generation of AI. Programmers getting excited about vibe coding is like candlemakers getting excited about installing electric lights in their shops, so they can make more candles!

[dead]

Re: If you're going to vibe code, why not do it in C?

#250

Post by nylonstrung »

stared wrote: post #5

There was a recent discussion, “Why AI Needs Hard Rules, Not Vibe Checks” ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46152838 ). We need as many checks as possible - and ideally ones that come for free (e.g., guaranteed by types, lifetimes, etc.) - which is why Rust might be the language for vibe coding. Without checks and feedback, LLMs can easily generate unsafe code. So even if they can generate C or Assembly that wor…

Absolutely. A language being well suited to static analysis and "compiler driven development" matters a lot more with LLMs than with humans IMO

We're at the point of diminishing returns from scaling and RL is the only way to see meaningful improvements

Very hard to improve much via RL without some way to tell if the code works without requiring compilation

Logic based languages like Prolog take this to the logic extreme, would love to see people revisit that idea

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