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How I write code using Cursor

arguingwithalgorithms.com

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Re: How I write code using Cursor

#191

Post by jpamata »

miningape wrote: post #170
jpamata wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they said 90% of it was spent on ideation and exploration they didnt specifically mean they built a wordle clone, just a game like it. if they wanted just a wordle clone, they wouldve gotten one within a few minutes of using codegen tools.

No, what they said was > I estimate that 90% of the time was spent thinking about the product, directing the AI, and testing In other words 90% of the time was spent in the proompt-test-proompt loop. Not ideation and exploration. > they didnt specifically mean they built a wordle clone, just a game like it. if they wanted just a wordle clone, they wouldve gotten one within a few minutes of using codegen tools. If you…

yes, the quote is what I'm referring to, directing the AI is part of it, people use these to quickly brainstorm and refine ideas. I'd be more charitable and wouldn't hastily assume it was some skill issue, especially them being a principal engineer

Re: How I write code using Cursor

#192

Post by tucnak »

wanderingmind wrote: post #184

As an aside, do we really need a new IDE for AI copilot? What makes Cursor better than say Cody, which is just an extension on VSCode which helps me stay with the mature IDE that has all the bells and whistles I need.

Cursor -is- Visual Studio Code, bar the AI-specific tooling.

Re: How I write code using Cursor

#193

Post by DeathArrow »

From what I see, it's not better than GitHub Copilot for my use case. I work in large code bases, where the code in one files depends on the code in other files. Copilot seems to only be aware of code in current file, unless I write very long prompts to direct it to specifically look in some other files.

So for making changes to existing code, Copilot isn't helpful and neither seems to Cursor.

I can use Copilot to write some new methods to parse strings or split strings or convert to/from JSON or make http calls. Bat anything that implies using or changing existing code doesn't yield good results.

Re: How I write code using Cursor

#194

Post by girvo »

uh_uh wrote: post #162
pylua wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unit tests are boiler plate ?

Quite often, yes. That's why I prefer integration tests.

Indeed. To many tests are just testing nothing other than mocks. That goes for my coworkers directly and for their Copilot output. They’re not useful tests, they are thing to catch actual errors, they’re maybe useful as usage documentation. But in general, they’re mostly a waste.

Integration tests, good ones, are harder but far more valuable.

Re: How I write code using Cursor

#195

Post by profunctor »

DeathArrow wrote: post #193

From what I see, it's not better than GitHub Copilot for my use case. I work in large code bases, where the code in one files depends on the code in other files. Copilot seems to only be aware of code in current file, unless I write very long prompts to direct it to specifically look in some other files. So for making changes to existing code, Copilot isn't helpful and neither seems to Cursor. I can use Copilot to wr…

If you are using vscode in the copilot chat you can use @workspace and it tries to get the relevant files and context.

Re: How I write code using Cursor

#196

Post by blitzar »

DeathArrow wrote: post #193

From what I see, it's not better than GitHub Copilot for my use case. I work in large code bases, where the code in one files depends on the code in other files. Copilot seems to only be aware of code in current file, unless I write very long prompts to direct it to specifically look in some other files. So for making changes to existing code, Copilot isn't helpful and neither seems to Cursor. I can use Copilot to wr…

Ai assistant tuned for your sepecific large code base seems like the best final destination. I am not sure if this is on the horizion, miles away or just something that is of such little marginal benefit that it would only be useful internally for a handful of orgs.

Certainly for writting my emails for me I would quite like an Ai fine-tuned to my written voice.

Re: How I write code using Cursor

#197

Post by DeathArrow »

scosman wrote: post #179
CrendKing wrote: post #32

I've been using AI to solve isolated problems, mainly as a replacement of search engine specifically for programming. I'm still not convinced of these "write whole block of code for me" type of use case. Here's my arguments against the videos from the article. 1. Snake case to camelCase. Even without AI we can already complete these tasks easily. VSCode itself has command of "Transform to Camel Case" for selection. I…

I started like this. Then I came around and can’t imagine going back. It’s kinda like having a really smart new grad, who works instantly, and has memorized all the docs. Yes I have to code review and guide it. That’s an easy trade off to make for typing 1000 tokens/s, never losing focus, and double checking every detail in realtime. First: it really does save a ton of time for tedious tasks. My best example is test…

>My best example is test cases. I can write a method in 3 minutes, but Sonnet will write the 8 best test cases in 4 seconds

For me it doesn't work. Generated tests fail to run or they fail.

I work in large C# codebases and in each file I have lots of injected dependencies. I have one public method which can call lots of private methods in the same class.

AI either doesn't properly mock the dependencies, either ignores what happens in the private methods.

If I take a lot of time guiding it where to look, it can generate unit tests that pass. But it takes longer than if I write the unit tests myself.

Re: How I write code using Cursor

#198

Post by zkry »

cynicalpeace wrote: post #175

It's amazing how little of my colleagues don't use Cursor simply because they haven't taken the 10 minutes to set it up. It's amazing how many naysayers there are about Cursor. There are many here and they obviously don't use Cursor. I know this because they point out pitfalls that Cursor barely runs into, and their criticism is not about Cursor, but about AI code in general. Some examples: "I tried to create a TODO…

I've noticed that tools like Cursor doesn't really seem to make difference in the end. The good software developers are still the good software developers, regardless of editors.

I don't think you should be upset or worried that people aren't adopting these tools as you think they should. If the tool really lives up to its hype then the non-adopters will fall behind and, for example, be forced to switch to Cursive. This happened with IDEs (e.g. IntelliSense, jump to definition). It may happen with tools like Cursive.

I certainly don't feel this way but if I'm proven wrong thats good.

Re: How I write code using Cursor

#199

Post by greenie_beans »

CrendKing wrote: post #32

I've been using AI to solve isolated problems, mainly as a replacement of search engine specifically for programming. I'm still not convinced of these "write whole block of code for me" type of use case. Here's my arguments against the videos from the article. 1. Snake case to camelCase. Even without AI we can already complete these tasks easily. VSCode itself has command of "Transform to Camel Case" for selection. I…

have you tried using cursor or claude?

Re: How I write code using Cursor

#200

Post by thunky »

girvo wrote: post #194
uh_uh wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite often, yes. That's why I prefer integration tests.

Indeed. To many tests are just testing nothing other than mocks. That goes for my coworkers directly and for their Copilot output. They’re not useful tests, they are thing to catch actual errors, they’re maybe useful as usage documentation. But in general, they’re mostly a waste. Integration tests, good ones, are harder but far more valuable.

> To many tests are just testing nothing other than mocks

Totally agree, and I find that they don't help with documentation much either, because the person that wrote it doesn't know what they're trying to test. So it only overcomplicates things.

Also harmful because it gives a false sense of security that the code is tested when it really isn't.

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