If AI is so good at coding, why can't it be good at politics? We will elect AI in our next presidential election.
If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
601–610 of 719 posts
Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
#602If software was so good at making software LLMs should just produce binaries and minified bundles.
But in our software we actually want language - high level expressive declarations and descriptions of process (which actually automate work).
Code is like a recipe that is also a poem.
If it wasn’t, we’d not invent higher level more dynamic languages over time. Expression is power.
You want the dual function so it’s both descriptive (documentation and digestible knowledge) and yet has productive power as an instrument.
Higher-ups can’t think of code like that - like writing. One reason I think corporations still need to evolve to become more technical and made up of more creative people.
Run it like an editor at the local paper.
Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
#603Earlier quoted context omitted.
FYI you can sue them in small claims for this. This is one of the languages that companies really listen to. You would have to have actually thrown the book out in good faith, though, or commit perjury. Remember the airline LLM support bot and the bereavement fare?
Would this actually work? Surely, they have a mandatory arbitration clause in their customer agreement..? And which state’s court?
It might. Nothing in courts is ever certain. You could always try it, and at worst you'd be out a court fee (low, for small claims) and wouldn't get your money back because of this clause. Or they could say the clause doesn't matter.
Meanwhile Amazon has to pay someone to attend the hearing.
Note that Amazon would probably ban your account regardless. Most retail businesses don't want customers who might sue them, even if they deserve it.
Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
#604Earlier quoted context omitted.
My expectation is described in the comment you replied to and side comments Microwave's ding is also bad UI, especially when it's repetitive as it's just useless noise. But even the first ding - what value does it have if you already have exactly the same notification category - audio cue - built right there in the process: the machine noise disappears when it stops working.
The microwave in my house continues making the operating noise after it finishes microwaving.
Probably the noise of the cooking fan running a bit longer to cool down the electronics again.
Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
#605I have to say I’m really enjoying the Eternal September of Software comments here. They make me wonder about the vintage of the authors. Was Windows 7 the first stable OS they used? Some crustifarian Debian? I don’t actually recall if the Multicians I knew thought New Jersey software was rubbish. I know I still miss the solidity and useful abstractions of VAXcluster. Kubernetes would be funny by comparison if it weren’t so tragic.
It was always better in the past. The capitalists always ruined it in the past. Only I am the true bearer of the artisanal software flame. /s
Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
#606Earlier quoted context omitted.
Coding is anything but cheap. You speak like someone who has completely forgotten how difficult it was to learn everything you now know by heart.
Coding litterally is cheap. We outsource it for wages that you'd expect of a bottom-level fast food employee. We've been doing that for many years. It doesn't take a 4 year education to learn how to use loops, functions, and basic data structures. Most of you could probably code by the end of your fresan year of college. Many probably learned at least some coding before college. I've learned plenty since those days.…
> It doesn't take a 4 year education to learn how to use loops, functions, and basic data structures.
Many employers' understanding of programming is stuck in the era of the 1970s. At that time, this was indeed what programming was about. Since that time, programming has evolved a lot to encompass much more complicated concepts.
Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
#607> We’ve reached a point where an update to macOS — or to any app I rely on, really — is a source of dread rather than excitement. I now expect the new version to be worse. I actually relate to that. It used to be cool and exciting to update to see what new things are coming for free. I was just looking up what Fedora Workstation 45 might bring. Updates on phones, TV's, cars and non-Linux operating systems on PC's/lap…
Tesla just released an infuriating update which adds an incomprehensible number of UI nags to start self driving, despite there being a hardware lever that already does so. There's even a big button that says "Start Self Driving" in the valuable visual real estate where the speed limit once was.
I don't want to live on this planet anymore.
Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
#608Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only software I've been excited about an update for in years has been games, that seems like the only category where devs actually add features people are excited about. For example, the latest KCD2 patch added a fun but brief new quest [0]. Not universal though. Besides your example, even for single player games patches can be basically malicious. I've had Fallout 4 locked on updates for like 3 years at this poi…
I think games are the exception because they are * relatively small purchases * paid for directly by the user * expected to be enjoyable Most other software fails at least one of those tests, reducing the ability to shop around and make an informed decision.
> * paid for directly by the user
hahahahah. Games are steering further and further to this not being true. Where each player explicitly doesn't pay for it, and instead they contain an increasing series of dark patterns in order to steer players to fleece their money in a series of microtransactions.
Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
#609The answer, of course, is that the taste-making apparatus inside the typical tech company is now entirely imposters (non-technical, non-power-users), who continue to LARP as visionaries. The people who notice broken or degraded behavior (devs and power users) and conceive of good designs are not in charge of what goes into the product. So you shouldn't expect it to get better, only to continuously change so that the…
I've actually had the opposite problem much more often: Managers who were promoted due to their skill as a developer who have no skill in management or leadership.
Re: If coding has been solved, why does software keep getting worse?
#610Earlier quoted context omitted.
> The solution is to gut your product org, replace management with leading engineers, and hire some of your most fanatic users. It’s not surprising that this sentiment is popular on a message board filled with engineers but I’m not so convinced by it. Nor do I think the current state of tech companies is acceptable, to be clear. But there needs to be some level of management outside of the engineers themselves. A lot…
I'm not totally convinced by OP's whole point, but I want to point out an issue with this argument of yours: > lot of talented lead engineers I know are terrible people managers, or ineffective project managers. A lot of people who can read are also terrible manager, but that's not an argument to put illiterate people in charge. Not every engineer has what it takes to be a good manager, and that's fine since you don'…
The problem, as I've experienced it, is that companies don't try to determine what engineers also have managment aptitude. They simply promote whatever engineers are good at writing code.