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Why I don’t vibe code

jacobharr.is

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Re: Why I don’t vibe code

#11

Post by wvenable »

Aurornis wrote: post #3

I thought this was going to be an article about intelligent use of LLM tools without vibecoding, but it's actually entirely against LLMs altogether. The person who wrote it used a free trial of some tool (most likely not a frontier model) and then gave up forever when the trial ran out. > I then tried using one of the AI tools to analyze my code in a project and a few other small tasks before it all came to an awkwar…

I'm using Github copilot and I ran out of requests before the end of the month; this happens from time to time. But last month was the first time I decided to try the cheap models that were still accessible to me just to see what they were capable of. They're dumb as rocks.

I just don't know how many people have an overly negative opinion on AI assisted coding because they've just used the poor versions of these products given out for cheap/free. A similar critique is basing one's opinion on AI based on summary that Google provides for free in their search.

Re: Why I don’t vibe code

#12

Post by thangalin »

TheCleric wrote: post #2

This is so good and almost exactly expresses my own thoughts. There's a narrow window where it's capable and fits a need of tedious work (mostly around automating tasks it would take me a bit to remember all the arguments and commands I'd have to chain together to do it). But a lot of it is the stuff I actually WANT to be doing. And solving the hard problems makes me a better developer just as training in the gym mak…

I have the opposite experience:

* https://repo.autonoma.ca/repo/treetrek/tree/HEAD/render/rule... - syntax highlighting for 40 languages and file formats in ~10 minutes

* https://shufflenblues.com/expenses/ - real-time expenses progress updates with payment vendor API in ~30 minutes

* https://repo.autonoma.ca/repo/treetrek/tree/HEAD/git - real-time, cache-free raw Git reader implementation with cloning in ~5 days

* https://repo.autonoma.ca/repo/notanexus - PDFjs integration in ~3 days

However, these are likely not the "hard" problems you've mentioned. I feel like I can architect solutions at a higher-level now, without having to be completely caught up in many technical nuances. I'd rather not learn the extensive PDFjs API, for example, because it would take weeks of effort to understand.

Re: Why I don’t vibe code

#14

Post by m0llusk »

Aurornis wrote: post #3

I thought this was going to be an article about intelligent use of LLM tools without vibecoding, but it's actually entirely against LLMs altogether. The person who wrote it used a free trial of some tool (most likely not a frontier model) and then gave up forever when the trial ran out. > I then tried using one of the AI tools to analyze my code in a project and a few other small tasks before it all came to an awkwar…

LLM usage has costs that are open ended and rising. The author describe how he relates to that as a relentless cheapskate. This isn't supposed to be a directly applicable lesson to most, just a point of reference for further consideration. How much higher will costs go? How realistic will simple finishing off an odd idea be if the tools are charging professional rates? Much of the logic now seems to be can therefore do without much reference to costs or risks.

Re: Why I don’t vibe code

#16

Post by extr »

This is like reading an article "I Don't Drive Cars" that goes on like

- They're too expensive

- My buddy's 1995 Accord breaks down a lot

- Walking is healthier, plus you can stop and smell the roses

- I enjoy caring for my horse

- Sometimes you can get stuck in traffic

Fine if that's the way you want and can afford to live your life. But it is an exotic luxury belief. For those of us who are participating in the economy for real, the preference to not drive cars is not realistic.

Re: Why I don’t vibe code

#19

Post by quentindanjou »

analogpixel wrote: post #15

programming is just procrastination that gets in the way of implementing your ideas.

"painting is just procrastination that gets in the way of implementing your ideas."

"woodwork is just procrastination that gets in the way of implementing your ideas."

We can find plenty of others, but my main point is that industrializing a process doesn't make it "procrastinating". There are plenty of jobs that are done by machines but are still practiced by humans for multiple reasons. If we think of coding as a means to create, then we have plenty of examples of good reasons to have both the industrialized process and the 'handmade' one.

Re: Why I don’t vibe code

#20

Post by eikenberry »

Aurornis wrote: post #3

I thought this was going to be an article about intelligent use of LLM tools without vibecoding, but it's actually entirely against LLMs altogether. The person who wrote it used a free trial of some tool (most likely not a frontier model) and then gave up forever when the trial ran out. > I then tried using one of the AI tools to analyze my code in a project and a few other small tasks before it all came to an awkwar…

> Acting like LLM use is a spectrum between doing everything manually or handing control over to the LLM and vibecoding everything is a tired strawman argument.

But isn't the strawman here was that it wasn't a spectrum. That they couldn't just use it some, but all or nothing.

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