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Vibe Coding: Developer Slot Machines (Cursor, Windsurf)

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Re: Vibe Coding: Developer Slot Machines (Cursor, Windsurf)

#22

Post by graylien »

nonethewiser wrote: post #20
rgoulter wrote: post #10

Since LLMs are sometimes wonderfully useful, and sometimes not, I'd suggest effective use involves figuring out in which cases it's likely to succeed, which it's likely to fail. For example, the mentioned graph has "initial prompt with iterative tweaks", followed by iterations of 'starting from scratch'. -- I don't understand why you'd think "this is an ineffective way of doing things", and then keep doing it. Descri…

I do think its a bit slot machine like because the output isnt deterministic.

and they prompt you to add more credits, it's seamless to spend more - slot machine is referring to the experience using it, not what is happening technically

Re: Vibe Coding: Developer Slot Machines (Cursor, Windsurf)

#23

Post by codelikeawolf »

graylien wrote: post #7
jmisavage wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fork of VS Code that still uses the official extensions, despite that violating the license terms. Functionally, it's pretty similar to using VS Code with Copilot, but with the added bonus of choosing from multiple models. I’ve only just started using it at work, so my experience is also pretty limited, but so far the results seem slightly better.

Do these forks keep updating with the new versions of VS Code? I wonder if once they're forked, they are stuck with that version they forked from? On the other hand, I think MS are pretty much cloning the good stuff from Cursor, like agent mode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dutyOc_cAEU Leaves me thinking VS Code might be the best in the long long run, but for now they're all kinda similar?

I've spent an inordinate amount of time in the VS Code codebase. Given the complexity and size (I ran cloc on the src directory and it's > 1M lines of code) coupled with the amount of churn, I'm guessing most of the forks are woefully behind.

Re: Vibe Coding: Developer Slot Machines (Cursor, Windsurf)

#24

Post by graylien »

bilekas wrote: post #15

This article is really difficult to read or its just me? The breaks with the adds are really distracting and I don't know what the author actually is saying here, that he will try windsurf? Do I need to watch the video?

Hey, to clarify it's about the user experience of IDEs - how it feels to jump from one to the other, how the UI prompts you to add more credits (so you can end up spending a lot if you're not careful with prompts).

This has often drawn similarities to a slot machine, the way it is not deterministic what code will come out, and what changes to which files will be made.

Re: Vibe Coding: Developer Slot Machines (Cursor, Windsurf)

#26

Post by [deleted] »

ratatoskrt wrote: post #18
bilekas wrote: post #15

This article is really difficult to read or its just me? The breaks with the adds are really distracting and I don't know what the author actually is saying here, that he will try windsurf? Do I need to watch the video?

Not just you. Why is on the front page?

[deleted]

Re: Vibe Coding: Developer Slot Machines (Cursor, Windsurf)

#27

Post by TuxSH »

almostdeadguy wrote: post #6
jmisavage wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a fork of VS Code that still uses the official extensions, despite that violating the license terms. Functionally, it's pretty similar to using VS Code with Copilot, but with the added bonus of choosing from multiple models. I’ve only just started using it at work, so my experience is also pretty limited, but so far the results seem slightly better.

Can you not choose from multiple models in Copilot? My understanding is you can.

For ask/edit models: yes, but you have to enable them (which you don't get a choice over if it's an account managed by your company -- just saying)

For completion models: no, they retired gpt-35-codex, leaving only 4o-copilot.

From my experience (GH Copilot Pro with engaged_oss SKU, ie. for free), after they announced their "pricing changes", they also made the performance worse. The completions went from good, to actively distracting. tldr; they enshittified it / did a rugpull.

Right now, it is not worth paying for. ChatGPT Plus is far better value for money if you don't care about autocompletions/pure vibe coding.

Re: Vibe Coding: Developer Slot Machines (Cursor, Windsurf)

#30

Post by stavros »

bilekas wrote: post #15

This article is really difficult to read or its just me? The breaks with the adds are really distracting and I don't know what the author actually is saying here, that he will try windsurf? Do I need to watch the video?

I had the same thought, basically here's a summary, as far as I can tell:

> AIs are sometimes good for code, sometimes not so good. I put some money in but don't know what code will come out, and it's so easy to put more money in. My friend told me to use Windsurf instead of Cursor, and it's easy to switch IDEs, they have no moat. Where's the moat?

AFAICT, that's the whole article.

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