Live data from Hacker News

Codex for almost everything

openai.com

141–150 of 600 posts

Re: Codex for almost everything

#141

I swear OpenAI has 2-3 unannounced releases ready to go at any time just so they can steal some thunder from their competitors when they announce something

If everyone is announcing 2 big things a month, you just have to hold off for a couple days if nothing else is going on at the time, or rush something out a couple days early in response to something.

Re: Codex for almost everything

#142
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very much agree. Everyday people can now do much more than they could, because they can build programs. The idea that code is something sacred and only devs can somehow do it is dying, and I personally love it, as I am watching it enable so many of my friends and family who have no idea how to code. Today, when we think of someone "using the computer" we gravitate towards people using apps, installing them, writing d…

> The idea that code is something sacred and only devs can somehow do it is dying, and I personally love it, as I am watching it enable so many of my friends and family who have no idea how to code. People on HN are seriously delusional. AI removed the need to know the syntax. Your grandma does not know JS but can one shot a React app. Great! Software engineering is not and has never been about the syntax or one shot…

I wonder how good AI is at playing Factorio. That’s the closest thing I’ve ever done to programming without the syntax.

Re: Codex for almost everything

#143
Lots of scepticism here, but I think this may really take off. After 25 years of heavy CLI use, lately I've found myself using codex (in terminal) for terminal tasks I've previously done using CLI commands.

If someone manages to make a robust GUI version of this for normies, people will lap it up. People don't want to juggle applications, we want computers to do what we want/need them to do.

Re: Codex for almost everything

#144

There seems a fair enthusiasm in the UI of these to hide code from coders. Like the prompt interaction is the true source and the actual code is some sort of annoying intermediate runtime inconvenience to cover up. I get that productivity can be improved with a lot of this for non developers, just not sure using 'code' as the term is the right one or not.

The power to the people is not us the developers and coders.

We know how to do a lot of things, how to automate etc.

A billion people do not know this and probably benefit initially a lot more.

When i did some powerpoint presentation, i browsed around and draged images from the browser to the desktop, than i draged them into powerpoint. My collegue looked at me and was bewildered how fast I did all of that.

Re: Codex for almost everything

#146
post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps, but that strategy can backfire if you're planting a subpar comparison in the minds of customers.

Yeah but has that really happened? Anthropic doesn't have the compute so everyone can switch to Claude for a couple months, get nerfed, switch back. Gemini has horrible UX.

> Anthropic doesn't have the compute so everyone can switch to Claude for a couple months, get nerfed, switch back.

This seems to be the new narrative around here but it's not jiving with what I'm experiencing. Obviously Anthropic's uptime stats are terrible but when it's up, it's excellent (and I personally haven't had any issues with uptime this week, although my earlier-in-the-week usage was lighter than usual).

I'm loving 4.7. I was loving 4.6 too. I use Codex to get code reviews done on Claude-generated code but have no interest in using it as my daily driver.

Re: Codex for almost everything

#147

There seems a fair enthusiasm in the UI of these to hide code from coders. Like the prompt interaction is the true source and the actual code is some sort of annoying intermediate runtime inconvenience to cover up. I get that productivity can be improved with a lot of this for non developers, just not sure using 'code' as the term is the right one or not.

Yes, the code is still important. For example, I had tasked Codex to implement function calling in a programming language, and it decided the way to do this was to spin up a brand new sub interpreter on each function call, load a standard library into it, execute the code, destroy the interpreter, and then continue -- despite an already partial and much more efficient solution was already there but in comments. The A…

Do you ask it for a design first? Depending on complexity I ask for a short design doc or a function signature + approach before any code, and only greenlight once it looks sane.

Re: Codex for almost everything

#148
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Non-technical users expect a CEO's secretary from TV/movies: you do a vague request, the secretary does everything for you. LLMs cannot give you that by their own nature. What are you using today? In my experience LLMs are already pretty good at this. > Please for the love of god actually go outside and talk to people outside of the tech bubble. In the past week I've taught a few non-technical friends, who are well…

> What are you using today? In my experience LLMs are already pretty good at this. LLMS are good at "find me a two week vacation two months from now"? Or at "do my taxes"? > how to use Cowork. Yes, and I taught my mom how to use Apple Books, and have to re-teach her every time Apple breaks the interface. Ask your non-tech friends what they do with and how they feel about Cowork in a few weeks. > I think where our vie…

[deleted]

Re: Codex for almost everything

#149
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like we did with phones that nobody phones with. Since when? HN is truly a bubble sometimes

Easily less than 10% of my time spent using a phone today involves making phone calls, and I think that's far from an outlier. You'll cause mild panic in a sizable share of people under 30 if you call them without a warning text.

On the flip side, I cause a medium panic in my daughter when I text "please call me when you can" without a why attached. She assumes someone's in the hospital or dying or something.

Re: Codex for almost everything

#150
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Like we did with phones that nobody phones with. Since when? HN is truly a bubble sometimes

Easily less than 10% of my time spent using a phone today involves making phone calls, and I think that's far from an outlier. You'll cause mild panic in a sizable share of people under 30 if you call them without a warning text.

That’s a pretty far cry from “nobody makes phone calls”. You can also find people who spend 6+ hours on phone calls everyday, including people under 30.
Post reply on HN