Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage • Hacker News Board

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#181

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 4:20 AM UTC

fenprace wrote: post #179

Schnitz wrote: post #166

Because people that enjoy programming for programming's sake don't want an LLM to do the programming for them - isn't it obvious? It's just like with any other hobby, people who like car racing created rules that force you to drive yourself, even though they'd get faster lap times with electronic driver aids. People who enjoy grappling created rules that force you to grapple, even though striking could win a fight fa…

People programme for 2 reasons: 1. Some programme because it’s the one of 2 ways to get the things they want (another way is hiring a team to code for them). Now that they have vibe coding, they’d happily never touch a line of code again. 2. Other people programmes because they just enjoy it. Vibe coding ruins the best part for them. Like telling a foodie, "Good news! I built a robot to eat your food for you." Most p…

[deleted]

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#182

Post by brookst » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 4:53 AM UTC

Schnitz wrote: post #166

Because people that enjoy programming for programming's sake don't want an LLM to do the programming for them - isn't it obvious? It's just like with any other hobby, people who like car racing created rules that force you to drive yourself, even though they'd get faster lap times with electronic driver aids. People who enjoy grappling created rules that force you to grapple, even though striking could win a fight fa…

This is true, but as usual nobody can agree on what "doing it yourself" means.

Few cars are manual steering, manual brakes, manual transmission.

Few grappling bodies go all Greek-naked.

Few chess bodies forbid researching previous games or your opponent.

The list is indeed endless, and every single person thinks they are using just the right amount of assistance; anything less is pointlessly difficult, anything more is cheating that takes the sport out.

Me, I've been a hobbyist programmer since youth (6502 assembly, represent). I'm having a blast "writing" software without touching a line of code. Sure, I'm old, and maybe I'm like those guys blasting Veyrons through highways, relying on traction control and all the computers to let me drive beyond my abilities. And... ok? I'm having fun, even if I'm not doing it right, by random anonymous peoples' views.

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#183

Post by djtango » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 4:53 AM UTC

fenprace wrote: post #179

Schnitz wrote: post #166

Because people that enjoy programming for programming's sake don't want an LLM to do the programming for them - isn't it obvious? It's just like with any other hobby, people who like car racing created rules that force you to drive yourself, even though they'd get faster lap times with electronic driver aids. People who enjoy grappling created rules that force you to grapple, even though striking could win a fight fa…

People programme for 2 reasons: 1. Some programme because it’s the one of 2 ways to get the things they want (another way is hiring a team to code for them). Now that they have vibe coding, they’d happily never touch a line of code again. 2. Other people programmes because they just enjoy it. Vibe coding ruins the best part for them. Like telling a foodie, "Good news! I built a robot to eat your food for you." Most p…

Hobby should only become job if you enjoy the craft of it and if the profession / job rewards craftsmanship.

People in it just for the money won't care about craft - you see the same thing in plumbing. And when there's enough money and scale on the line, craft becomes progressively more niche - that is why Ikea furniture is a thing. And you can even say that there is craft in Ikea, just not along the axes a traditional furniture maker or user would consider.

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#184

Post by dosisking » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 4:54 AM UTC

fenprace wrote: post #179

Schnitz wrote: post #166

Because people that enjoy programming for programming's sake don't want an LLM to do the programming for them - isn't it obvious? It's just like with any other hobby, people who like car racing created rules that force you to drive yourself, even though they'd get faster lap times with electronic driver aids. People who enjoy grappling created rules that force you to grapple, even though striking could win a fight fa…

People programme for 2 reasons: 1. Some programme because it’s the one of 2 ways to get the things they want (another way is hiring a team to code for them). Now that they have vibe coding, they’d happily never touch a line of code again. 2. Other people programmes because they just enjoy it. Vibe coding ruins the best part for them. Like telling a foodie, "Good news! I built a robot to eat your food for you." Most p…

> Like telling a foodie, "Good news! I built a robot to eat your food for you."

Also like building a robot to cook food for you. Sure, it's fine for mass produced meals, but it won't replace a top-notch chef.

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#185

Post by KingMob » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:03 AM UTC

rsoto2 wrote: post #108

minimaxir wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your entire commenting history is about how much you dislike LLMs (with the high likelihood that you would not accept any evidence about agentic productivity), which does not lead to good discourse on Hacker News.

lol "my girlfriend doesn't go here but you wouldn't even believe me if i lied about it" disliking LLMs is just an opinion. Refusing to engage with an argument and instead defaulting to downvotes when you can't supply a reasonable argument or proof is just ai/corporate-fanaticism and self-delusion enhanced by LLM-dependence.

What argument was there to engage with? I just see a single, unsourced opinion.

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#186

Post by NitpickLawyer » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:04 AM UTC

podgietaru wrote: post #13

The article just straight up doesn't mention the context of the Github Thread, which is about the guy lifting ideas from other engines and copy-washing them. "Do you genuinely believe changes like cd170a4 make the code somehow not derived from Reckless anymore? It appears to me like it's just trying to obfuscate its origins, to make it easier to appeal to plausible deniability. The reality is, coda 100% has code deri…

> lifting ideas from other engines and copy-washing them.

You cannot copyright ideas. And that's a good thing. Remember the "one click checkout patent" saga? That is bad for everyone involved. We don't want that, as an industry.

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#187

Post by rzmmm » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:07 AM UTC

Schnitz wrote: post #166

Because people that enjoy programming for programming's sake don't want an LLM to do the programming for them - isn't it obvious? It's just like with any other hobby, people who like car racing created rules that force you to drive yourself, even though they'd get faster lap times with electronic driver aids. People who enjoy grappling created rules that force you to grapple, even though striking could win a fight fa…

It can also be a personal preference for minimalism vs. maximalism. Or many other things.

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#188

Post by tshaddox » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:08 AM UTC

brookst wrote: post #182

Schnitz wrote: post #166

Because people that enjoy programming for programming's sake don't want an LLM to do the programming for them - isn't it obvious? It's just like with any other hobby, people who like car racing created rules that force you to drive yourself, even though they'd get faster lap times with electronic driver aids. People who enjoy grappling created rules that force you to grapple, even though striking could win a fight fa…

This is true, but as usual nobody can agree on what "doing it yourself" means. Few cars are manual steering, manual brakes, manual transmission. Few grappling bodies go all Greek-naked. Few chess bodies forbid researching previous games or your opponent. The list is indeed endless, and every single person thinks they are using just the right amount of assistance; anything less is pointlessly difficult, anything more…

> This is true, but as usual nobody can agree on what "doing it yourself" means.

Not everyone has to agree. Just everyone in a particular group at a particular time. Grappling competitions exist and so do MMA competitions, and both of them will expect you to follow their own rules.

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#189

Post by KingMob » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:09 AM UTC

anematode wrote: post #83

minimaxir wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This repo is all "stolen code regurgitated by an LLM" so that is an impossible task and therefore makes the request performative.

My implicit request, which I should have made clearer, was for him to delete (or make private) the repository and move on to greater ideals.

Why not request that the public chess boards/lists/ranking sites disqualify coda, or break it out into an AI-allowed/only category?

That's both more honest, and probably more fruitful.

Re: Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

#190

Post by tshaddox » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:11 AM UTC

bawolff wrote: post #34

QuantumNoodle wrote: post #4

A hobby is something you enjoy the process of doing, not just the end result. Everybody likes a clean home, but cleaning is rarely a hobby. LLMs expedite achieving the end result. Take from that what you will.

I think part of it though is that LLMs (especially in novice hands) create code that is more difficult to review and has subtler bugs. Code review is (for many) the least fun part of programming. Like imagine if your hobby was cooking, but you hated the cleanup. If you buy a robot that automates the fun part at the cost of making twice the mess, that is not a good trade off no matter how many extra cookies you end up…

Or imagine a club where everyone cooks together and then cleans dishes together. Then one day some people show up at a club meeting with cooking robots that create 10x the amount of dirty dishes and then don’t help clean up at all. I bet the other members wouldn’t be happy, even if the robots mostly cooked decent food.