At some point it won’t be realistic to ask a human to solve a technical problem any more. I’m not suggesting it will happen soon but I can at least imagine that day coming. Whereas before modern “AI”, that possibility wasn’t even on my radar.
Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
141–150 of 573 posts
Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
#142I strongly agree with the concept that cognitive friction is the engine of learning. First and foremost, it's an issue of "dependency": if you stop training the "muscle" of logic and reasoning, it gradually atrophies, just like unused physical muscles. You become dependent on external tools that replace a capability you once had yourself. A historical example that brought about a similar shift is this: when the produ…
> cognitive friction is the engine of learning. I agree 100% too. This is why in order to understand new codebase or to ramp up to new projects, I use AI to generate a textbook style reading material for me along with "verify yourself" types of exercises along the way. Then I print them on a paper and read it using a pencil/pen and take notes. Because of my math training, I am in the habit of slowing down to read tex…
I also do this. It would be better I think to generate exact references to primary and canonical sources to avoid learning LLMisms, or to feed it these and have it ensure its material is anchored to those good references.
Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
#143Saw a quote comparing pre-LLM code to pre-WWII steel, low-background steel, essentially.
No matter how robust my code is and however many eventualities I considered, it certainly feels like AI can find and address issues.
> it certainly feels like AI can find and address issues.
LLM chatbots are good at making you feel good. Facts don't care about your feelings.
Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
#144I think we now entering this state where code is cheap but good well made programs will be rarer then ever, a lot of crap can be made and a lot of programs made without ever thinking the problem through properly will occur. It might be like how an archeologist since the invention of plastic can date the period of the soil as post plastic, if one could cut open the software stack of the coming systems that will be bui…
How many programs can dispense with 50% of their complexity by just offering an API for LLMs to execute?
By way of example I use Kdenlive 90% less and just use Codex to issue the ffmpeg CLI commands directly when I want to crop/format video on my PC.
Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
#145Fair enough, let's say that happens.
But what we're gonna manage the codebase in, then? What kind of language?
Will it be a natural language, or a formal one?
I feel that "coding" cannot collapse. Coding is just translation from natural to formal language. Somebody needs to write the specs. And writing/maintaining them in natural language brings a lot of fun - shifting interpretation, inconsistency, missing specification, etc.
I don't think it's progress for the field of SW engineering. But at least more "shareholder value" will be created.
Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
#146[dead]
Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
#147To be fair nobody codes in ASM and things are fine for decades.
ASM is still used in some areas, such as:
1. function trampolines, such as in libraries like ATL (Microsoft's COM template library);
2. hand-optimized encoders/decoders for things like ffmpeg;
3. niche applications such as Ben Eater's 6502 breadboard computer (using a modified WozMon and Microsoft BASIC);
4. reading ASM output from C/C++ code in things like the GodBolt site for performance comparisons/analysis;
5. reverse engineering old DOS games;
6. people working on things like compilers (generating optimized assembly), JIT engines, or other code generation -- though this will typically be machine code, possibly with assembly instruction comments;
and other performance critical places where assembly can speed up that part of the code.
Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
Works for a demo, but quickly stagnates. Future models may of course push the limits further, but right now it quickly goes sideways without someone knowledgeable at the helm.
You don't design things with never ending details though. If your developing a feature there's a limited scope to it. If your designing the direction of a large project you're working with higher level concepts. The point is that AI is aware of constraints and can manage a round it. You've got to keep in mind the size of a typical software project and plan. Most people aren't writing a kernel. They're writing some ba…
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Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
#149I think we now entering this state where code is cheap but good well made programs will be rarer then ever, a lot of crap can be made and a lot of programs made without ever thinking the problem through properly will occur. It might be like how an archeologist since the invention of plastic can date the period of the soil as post plastic, if one could cut open the software stack of the coming systems that will be bui…
How many programs can dispense with 50% of their complexity by just offering an API for LLMs to execute? By way of example I use Kdenlive 90% less and just use Codex to issue the ffmpeg CLI commands directly when I want to crop/format video on my PC.
All those crazy complicated CLIs are now super useful for LLMs!
Re: Coding expertise is going to collapse from AI reliance
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
No matter how robust my code is and however many eventualities I considered, it certainly feels like AI can find and address issues.
> it certainly feels like AI can find and address issues. LLM chatbots are good at making you feel good. Facts don't care about your feelings.
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