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Building better AI tools

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Re: Building better AI tools

#21

Post by loganmhb »

taylorallred wrote: post #14

One thing that has always worried me about AI coding is the loss of practice. To me, writing the code by hand (including the boilerplate and things I've done hundreds of times) is the equivalent of Mr. Miyagi's paint-the-fence. Each iteration gets it deeper into your brain and having these patterns as a part of you makes you much more effective at making higher-level design decisions.

Especially concerning in light of that METR study in which developers overestimated the impact of AI on their own productivity (even if it doesn't turn out to be negative) https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-o...

Re: Building better AI tools

#23

Post by ethan_smith »

taylorallred wrote: post #14

One thing that has always worried me about AI coding is the loss of practice. To me, writing the code by hand (including the boilerplate and things I've done hundreds of times) is the equivalent of Mr. Miyagi's paint-the-fence. Each iteration gets it deeper into your brain and having these patterns as a part of you makes you much more effective at making higher-level design decisions.

The "paint-the-fence" analogy is spot-on, but AI can be the spotter rather than replacement - use it for scaffolding while deliberately practicing core patterns that strengthen your mental models.

Re: Building better AI tools

#24

Post by topaz0 »

swiftcoder wrote: post #7
datadrivenangel wrote: post #5

Author makes some good points about designing human computer interfaces, but has a very opinionated view of how AI can be used in systems engineering tooling which seems like it misses a lot of places where AI can be useful even without humans in the loop?

The scenarios in the article are all about mission-critical disaster recovery - we don't even trust the majority of our human colleagues with those scenarios! AI won't make inroads there without humans in the loop, until AI is 100% trustworthy.

Or it will, and disaster will ensue.

Re: Building better AI tools

#26

Post by yoyohello13 »

taylorallred wrote: post #14

One thing that has always worried me about AI coding is the loss of practice. To me, writing the code by hand (including the boilerplate and things I've done hundreds of times) is the equivalent of Mr. Miyagi's paint-the-fence. Each iteration gets it deeper into your brain and having these patterns as a part of you makes you much more effective at making higher-level design decisions.

There are many time when I’ll mull over a problem in my head at night or in the shower. I kind of “write the code” in my head. I find it very useful sometimes. I don’t think it would be possible if I didn’t have the language constructs ingrained in my head.

Re: Building better AI tools

#27

Post by wussboy »

ethan_smith wrote: post #23
taylorallred wrote: post #14

One thing that has always worried me about AI coding is the loss of practice. To me, writing the code by hand (including the boilerplate and things I've done hundreds of times) is the equivalent of Mr. Miyagi's paint-the-fence. Each iteration gets it deeper into your brain and having these patterns as a part of you makes you much more effective at making higher-level design decisions.

The "paint-the-fence" analogy is spot-on, but AI can be the spotter rather than replacement - use it for scaffolding while deliberately practicing core patterns that strengthen your mental models.

I suspect when it comes to human mastery there is no clear dividing line between scaffolding and core, and that both are important.

Re: Building better AI tools

#28

Post by goda90 »

donsupreme wrote: post #17
taylorallred wrote: post #14

One thing that has always worried me about AI coding is the loss of practice. To me, writing the code by hand (including the boilerplate and things I've done hundreds of times) is the equivalent of Mr. Miyagi's paint-the-fence. Each iteration gets it deeper into your brain and having these patterns as a part of you makes you much more effective at making higher-level design decisions.

Many analog to this IRL: 1) I can't remember the last time I write something meaningfully long with an actual pen/pencil. My handwriting is beyond horrible. 2) I can't no longer find my way driving without a GPS. Reading a map? lol

I don't like having location turned on on my phone, so it's a big motivator to see if I can look at the map and determine where I need to go in relation to familiar streets and landmarks. It's definitely not "figure out a road trip with just a paper map" level wayfinding, but it helps for learning local stuff.

Re: Building better AI tools

#29

Post by ahamilton454 »

This is one of the reasons I really like deep research. It always asks questions first and forces me to refine and better define what I want to learn about.

A simple UX change makes the difference between education and dumbing users of your service.

Re: Building better AI tools

#30

Post by add-sub-mul-div »

taylorallred wrote: post #14

One thing that has always worried me about AI coding is the loss of practice. To me, writing the code by hand (including the boilerplate and things I've done hundreds of times) is the equivalent of Mr. Miyagi's paint-the-fence. Each iteration gets it deeper into your brain and having these patterns as a part of you makes you much more effective at making higher-level design decisions.

Generalize this to: what's it going to look like in ten years when the majority of our society has outsourced general thinking and creativity rather than practicing it?
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