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If AI writes your code, why use Python?

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Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#491

Post by bazoom42 »

simonask wrote: post #456
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #453

One obvious reason is Python's extreme readability, it has often been described as being as close to executable pseudo-code as one can get. If you're using an LLM to write code I think the rules would be 1. Use a language you know really well so you can read it easily, and add to it as needed. 2. Use a language that has a large training set so the LLM can be most efficient. 3. Use a language that is easy to read. If…

Python is locally readable. Reasoning about larger systems in Python is where things get really hard, because you have to describe how many small individually readable things interact with each other in a very limited vocabulary.

For larger systems you create your own modules and abstractions, so comprehensibility at higher level does not depend so much on the language.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#492

Post by wiseowise »

shepherdjerred wrote: post #203
bensyverson wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use Go. LLMs have seen a ton of it, they write it well, it compiles practically instantly, and it has all the advantages of a typed compiled language. I created a big Python codebase using AI, and the LLM constantly guesses arguments or dictionary formats wrong. Unit tests and stuff like pydantic help, but it's better to avoid that whole class of runtime errors altogether.

Why use Go when you can use Rust?

So I can test my feature today instead of waiting until it finishes compiling tomorrow.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#494

Post by throwaway2037 »

tnelsond4 wrote: post #134

Yeah, last year I discovered that AI writes better rust than C, so I switched to rust and it made some quick good code that it couldn't do in C. But when I wanted to optimize and edit and reorganize bthe code it was difficult, so I did a rewrite in C and it was lighter and faster and simpler and less headache. C for humans, rust for AI.

    > [L]ast year I discovered that AI writes better rust than C
I am not doubting your anecdata. I am curious about the why. C is so simple compared to Rust. Yes, I understand it is much more dangerous, but I am genuinely surprised by your discovery. Also, the open source training base in C is massive; I assume still much larger than Rust.

    > The best argument for Rust in 2026 is not memory safety or performance. It is that AI writes better Rust than it writes C++. The compiler feedback loop is so tight that models self-correct in real time. Every error message is a free training signal. Rust was accidentally designed for AI-assisted development 10 years before anyone knew that mattered.
This quote bothered me when I read it because it offers no evidence as to why LLMs are better at writing Rust than C++. LLVM can compile Rust (rustc) and C++ (clang) and should offer equally compelling error messages. C++ has notoriously hard-to-read (for humans!) template error messages, but that should not be a big issue for an LLVM. When I am stuck on a compiler error, I often turn to an LLVM and they can quickly make good suggestions.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#495

Post by wiseowise »

sly010 wrote: post #323
hirvi74 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what is the selling point for Go? I get that it is allegedly hailed to be a simple language with basically no batteries included, but why is that a selling point? Does Go excel at anything no other language does?

No batteries!? Go has a huge stable standard library no other language even comes close to. Built in tooling for unit testing, performance testing, debugging, code formatting, package management, etc. And most go binaries can be compiled statically so libc is not even a dependency. Golang is the definition of batteries included.

> Go has a huge stable standard library no other language even comes close to.

Java, C#, Python, Node.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#496

Post by strangegecko »

fragmede wrote: post #489
DaanDL wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never really understood what exactly is so readable about python. I've been developing in Python for 8 years now, and before that I was a C# developer, and I don't find Python to be that more readable. Sure there's less ceremony, and yes, you can have your project going with just a single file, but other than that...?

The "other than that" is whitespace, not brackets. Whether that's a big deal is up to you, but the carry on effect of that is that the code is indented the way the control flow interprets it, so there are no bugs from misplaced braces. (Plenty of other bugs for other reasons, unfortunately.)

I find brackets help me understand structure from a distance much better than whitespace.

Misplaced brackets seem like a thing from the past to me when we didn't have IDEs. I don't remember ever having a bug due to that.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#497

Post by wiseowise »

enneff wrote: post #188
hirvi74 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what is the selling point for Go? I get that it is allegedly hailed to be a simple language with basically no batteries included, but why is that a selling point? Does Go excel at anything no other language does?

For one thing it’s statically typed and has many fewer foot guns than Python, so the llm-produced code is more likely to do what you expect.

Python has much better type system than Go, I don’t know what you’re on. With Trio it has a better async capabilities too.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#498

Post by munksbeer »

repiret wrote: post #345

My experience is that there's a correlation between powerful type systems and the property that once your program compiles, it's correct. Compiles == correct is rarely true in C or JavaScript. It's often true in Haskell and Rust. TypeScript is somewhere in between C and Rust. There's a niche available for a language which is relatively easy for a human to read, but with a very powerful at the expense of difficult to…

>My experience is that there's a correlation between powerful type systems and the property that once your program compiles, it's correct. Compiles == correct is rarely true in C or JavaScript. It's often true in Haskell and Rust.

I find this staggeringly hard to believe. Most bugs are logic errors. How does Rust or Haskell prevent these?

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#500

Post by throwaway2037 »

semiquaver wrote: post #111

Great question. And I don’t think that Python, Ruby and PHP have a good answer. Scripting languages cater to human weaknesses. The 10-100x perf cost was never really worth it but now it’s impossible to justify.

One question I have asked myself many times: What if Python had a strictly-typed mode? (It would require strict type hints/annotations.) Or there was a well-maintained branch that enforced strict types. I also thought that Python is a beautiful language, but the weak(er) typing is such a no-go (for me, personally) and causes ridiculous slowdowns at runtime due to this type flexibility. Finally, I know the answer why it has not been done: The ecosystem of 3rd party libraries is far too large to impose such a requirement. It would be the Python 3.0 upgrade all over again that took more than ten years to complete.
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