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Learning to code is still worthwhile

stevekrouse.com

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Re: Learning to code is still worthwhile

#41

Post by gonzalohm »

coupdejarnac wrote: post #34
embedding-shape wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The excuse that we don't need to know how things work because AI will take care of it is going to bite a lot of people on their asses Abstractions always led to this sort of behavior. So many of my web development peers screamed at me for being curious about what happens behind/further down then the stack we were learning, and this was decades ago. Seems it differs a lot per person, and what I've found out only lat…

Abstractions are one thing, not putting any effort into learning is another. People worry about the latter.

Exactly. I'm not saying that you should go back to code in assembly. But, come on, you can surely dedicate 30 minutes of your time to read how a CPU works... Just have curiosity would be my advice

Re: Learning to code is still worthwhile

#42

Post by davidpapermill »

Madmallard wrote: post #24
abc_lisper wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how one would build anything without knowing. If it was true, I would be building a competitor to Anthropic right now.

I mean only people with billions of dollars can make competitors to anthropic because of necessary compute costs that's the barrier to entry

Only people with billions of dollars can train foundation models, yes.

But a competitor to Anthropic at the product level? With open source models, very little barrier.

Re: Learning to code is still worthwhile

#43

Post by Dumblydorr »

Thin post with more ads for their company than arguments.

Many pursuits are worthwhile, yet almost no one does most pursuits. Coding is going to become a niche activity like portrait painting or making toys. It’s fun but there’s far cheaper easier ways to get a superior product.

Re: Learning to code is still worthwhile

#44

Post by dd8601fn »

avaer wrote: post #12

Those are not compelling arguments. If the best we've got for convincing people to learn to code is that it's like math notation (the most hated part of math for the uninitiated), or pretty like a violin (useless for a new grad), then coding is in serious trouble. IMO a better argument is it helps you "think like a computer". But if you wanted to learn that there are many video games I'd recommend mastering instead o…

> If the best we've got for convincing people to learn to code is that it's like math notation (the most hated part of math [...]

That's funny. I've told a mathy friend that I've sometimes wondered if I could have grown up without the whole, "... except I suck at math", and I think that's why.

I don't struggle with the problem solving. I've watched people reinvent chunks of "difficult" math in code without realizing or caring that they've done it.

I've started to think that math might actually be awful on purpose.

Re: Learning to code is still worthwhile

#45

Post by adamddev1 »

em-bee wrote: post #36
adamddev1 wrote: post #33

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't AI agents replacing the coding mostly being done on the outer layers of development? I mean, end user applications, apps, dashboards, business applications? On this "outer crust" people can maybe tolerate things with 99% accuracy, or bloated code. A vibe coded app can be argued to be "good enough." (Even then, look at the disaster that Microsoft apps have become post AI adop…

doesn't the recent bun controversy tell a different story?

exactly, it seems like people run away when a tool becomes heavily AI developed.

Re: Learning to code is still worthwhile

#46

Post by forgetfreeman »

bad_haircut72 wrote: post #38
adamddev1 wrote: post #33

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't AI agents replacing the coding mostly being done on the outer layers of development? I mean, end user applications, apps, dashboards, business applications? On this "outer crust" people can maybe tolerate things with 99% accuracy, or bloated code. A vibe coded app can be argued to be "good enough." (Even then, look at the disaster that Microsoft apps have become post AI adop…

This type of comment retroactively assigns human written code a quality which it has never had. "No one wants to build on code that is 99% accurate or bloated" - my friend have you ever used Windows??

While there are certainly more examples than either of us can count of shitty half-baked codebases claiming quality code has never existed is pretty wild. With humans it's at least something to be aspired to and occasionally even accomplished.

Re: Learning to code is still worthwhile

#47

Post by MeetingsBrowser »

Dumblydorr wrote: post #43

Thin post with more ads for their company than arguments. Many pursuits are worthwhile, yet almost no one does most pursuits. Coding is going to become a niche activity like portrait painting or making toys. It’s fun but there’s far cheaper easier ways to get a superior product.

Driving schools will shut down within the year because self driving cars will be prevalent

Re: Learning to code is still worthwhile

#49

Post by rapidfl »

avaer wrote: post #12

Those are not compelling arguments. If the best we've got for convincing people to learn to code is that it's like math notation (the most hated part of math for the uninitiated), or pretty like a violin (useless for a new grad), then coding is in serious trouble. IMO a better argument is it helps you "think like a computer". But if you wanted to learn that there are many video games I'd recommend mastering instead o…

> For most people "learn to code" is like telling programmers to "learn asm".

This is such a good way to put it.

I could learn asm maybe in a college course. But no other incentive.

No one wanted to read asm. Now no one wants to read thru code.

Re: Learning to code is still worthwhile

#50

Post by hollowturtle »

The very fact we need to discuss that it's a sign that we lost and slop has won. Learning to code it's a journey that never ends, after almost 15+ years I feel like I still learn and that my code sucks, if I delegate everything to the slot machine I feel like I'm being retro actively turned into a junior, thanks but no thanks. I'll still use LLMs and Agents the best I can but coding is mine
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