Write-only code
heavybit.com
Write-only code
1–10 of 59 posts
Re: Write-only code
#2> “AI writes the code” is already true inside many enterprise teams
I'm highly doubtful this is true. Adoption isn't even close to the level necessary for this to be the case.
Re: Write-only code
#3I am old. This immediately triggered "Perl!?" in me...
Joke aside: Programming languages and compilers are still being optimized until the assembly and execution match certain expectations. So prompts and whatever inputs to AI also will be optimized until some expectations are met. This includes looking at their output, obviously. So I think this is an overblown extrapolation like many we see these days.
Re: Write-only code
#4There will be more of it where it does not matter.
Maybe eventually with times.
At the moment, in my experience, most systems rely on hyperlinear semantics. Especially scalable ones.
Current llms cannot physically handle this at the moment. Maybe with biological or quantum (sic) computing.
But even then it is quite impressive.
Concretely in my use case, off of a manual base of code, having claude has the planner and code writer and GPT as the reviewer works very well. GPT is somehow better at minutiae and thinking in depth. But claude is a bit smarter and somehow has better coding style.
Before 4.5, GPT was just miles ahead.
Re: Write-only code
#5I am old. This immediately triggered "Perl!?" in me... Joke aside: Programming languages and compilers are still being optimized until the assembly and execution match certain expectations. So prompts and whatever inputs to AI also will be optimized until some expectations are met. This includes looking at their output, obviously. So I think this is an overblown extrapolation like many we see these days.
> I am old. This immediately triggered "Perl!?" in me...
Same same.
Re: Write-only code
#6write-once read-never?
something that was not perl ;)
in ~2005 i lead a team to build horse-betting terminals for Singapore, and there server could only understand CORBA. So.. i modelled the needed protocol in python, which generated a set of specific python files - one per domain - which then generated the needed C folders-of-files. Like 500 lines of models -> 5000 lines 2nd level -> 50000 lines C at bottom. Never read that (once the pattern was established and working).
But - but - it was 1000% controllable and repeatable. Unlike current fancy "generators"..
Re: Write-only code
#7> LLMs are clearly a massive productivity boost for software developers, and the value of humans manually translating intent into lines of code is rapidly depreciating.
This take is so divorced from reality it's hard to take any of this seriously. The evidence continues to show that LLMs for coding only make you feel more productive, while destroying productivity and eroding your ability to learn.
Re: Write-only code
#8I am old. This immediately triggered "Perl!?" in me... Joke aside: Programming languages and compilers are still being optimized until the assembly and execution match certain expectations. So prompts and whatever inputs to AI also will be optimized until some expectations are met. This includes looking at their output, obviously. So I think this is an overblown extrapolation like many we see these days.
> I am old. This immediately triggered "Perl!?" in me... Same same.
me too
Re: Write-only code
#9> In the Write-Only Code story, that same engineer becomes a systems designer, a constraint writer, and a trade-off manager.
This is also what I see my job to be shifting towards, increasingly fast in recent weeks. I wonder how long we will stay in this paradigm, I dont know.
Re: Write-only code
#10> LLMs are clearly a massive productivity boost for software developers, and the value of humans manually translating intent into lines of code is rapidly depreciating. This take is so divorced from reality it's hard to take any of this seriously. The evidence continues to show that LLMs for coding only make you feel more productive, while destroying productivity and eroding your ability to learn.
Your comment is so divorced from reality...