Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT • Hacker News Board

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#11

Post by yawnxyz » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:39 PM UTC

lionkor wrote: post #5

amelius wrote: post #3

Can this be used to refactor a codebase? Or is it meant to be used on just a single file?

What's refactoring? Usually when we say refactoring we want to get from one state into another - like making code testable. Do you want AI to do this for you? Do you trust that it will do a good job?

I've done a ton of refactoring, from Python to Node / Deno, and it's surprisingly good — but not perfect.

Having it create a testing suite definitely helps. But it makes fewer mistakes than I would normally make... it's not perfect but it IS way better than me.

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#12

Post by BugsJustFindMe » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:40 PM UTC

throwgfgfd25 wrote: post #7

Do they not understand that the example text they are using in the first image is so laughably banal that it makes an entire segment of its potential audience not want to engage at all? Shoot me in the face if my own writing is ever that bad. ETA: just to be clear... I am not a great writer. Or a bad one. But this is a particular kind of bad . The kind we should all try to avoid.

> Do they not understand

They don't care. Their goal is to accelerate the production of garbage.

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#13

Post by yawnxyz » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:40 PM UTC

throwgfgfd25 wrote: post #7

Do they not understand that the example text they are using in the first image is so laughably banal that it makes an entire segment of its potential audience not want to engage at all? Shoot me in the face if my own writing is ever that bad. ETA: just to be clear... I am not a great writer. Or a bad one. But this is a particular kind of bad . The kind we should all try to avoid.

This means you're a great writer — congrats! I'm a terrible writer, and this kind of crutch is really useful.

Other people in our lab (from China, Korea, etc.) also find this kind of thing useful for working / communicating quickly

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#14

Post by scop » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:42 PM UTC

I'm really happy to see ChatGPT doing this. The idea of a canvas made me really enjoy using Claude as I felt it to be the (so far) most "appropriate interface" to AI Chatbots as you are often doing two unique things in an AI chat:

- holding in your mind a "thing" (i.e. some code)

- talking about a "thing" (i.e. walking through the code)

The same applies to non-code tasks as well. The ability to segregate the actual "meat" from the discussion is an excellent interface improvement for chatbots.

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#15

Post by mmaunder » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:42 PM UTC

Anyone actually got access to this?

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#16

Post by yawnxyz » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:42 PM UTC

The most surprising part of this announcement was the team who worked on this — more people worked on and contributed to this than many startups. There are 16 people working on this project!!

If each was paid $300k (that's a minimum...) and they spent a year on this, it'd make it a $5M project...

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#17

Post by lionkor » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:42 PM UTC

Here's an idea: If AI like this is so brilliant and can think for itself, why don't we just tell it to come up with its own next iteration? Surely if it can write code for medical devices, cars, planes, etc. (where no doubt junior engineers are extensively using it), then why not AI?

Cant we just tell ChatGPT to make e.g. TensorFlow faster, better, cleaner? Why do people put in so much work anymore, if the AI is so damn good?

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#18

Post by wilde » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:43 PM UTC

throwgfgfd25 wrote: post #7

Do they not understand that the example text they are using in the first image is so laughably banal that it makes an entire segment of its potential audience not want to engage at all? Shoot me in the face if my own writing is ever that bad. ETA: just to be clear... I am not a great writer. Or a bad one. But this is a particular kind of bad . The kind we should all try to avoid.

TBF it looks like it’s intended as a “before” image but yes suspect the “after” isn’t much better

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#19

Post by jsheard » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:43 PM UTC

lionkor wrote: post #17

Here's an idea: If AI like this is so brilliant and can think for itself, why don't we just tell it to come up with its own next iteration? Surely if it can write code for medical devices, cars, planes, etc. (where no doubt junior engineers are extensively using it), then why not AI? Cant we just tell ChatGPT to make e.g. TensorFlow faster, better, cleaner? Why do people put in so much work anymore, if the AI is so d…

Because it's not that damn good. Not even close.

Re: Canvas is a new way to write and code with ChatGPT

#20

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Oct 03, 2024, 5:43 PM UTC

BugsJustFindMe wrote: post #12

throwgfgfd25 wrote: post #7

Do they not understand that the example text they are using in the first image is so laughably banal that it makes an entire segment of its potential audience not want to engage at all? Shoot me in the face if my own writing is ever that bad. ETA: just to be clear... I am not a great writer. Or a bad one. But this is a particular kind of bad . The kind we should all try to avoid.

> Do they not understand They don't care. Their goal is to accelerate the production of garbage.

[deleted]