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AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

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Re: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

#211

Post by hypfer »

ipaddr wrote: post #157
hypfer wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes but you see, maybe all of that was wrong in the first place? This is just a correction of something that managed to remain in an invalid state for an impressively long time.

It was wrong to write software you hoped others would use? The entire open source ecosystem works on this idea otherwise there would be no point in sharing and we can move to closed software.

> It was wrong to write software you hoped others would use?

Yes.

> The entire open source ecosystem works on this idea otherwise there would be no point in sharing and we can move to closed software.

No.

The _actual_ open source system consisted of hackers scratching their own itch and sharing the artifacts, because (it was assumed that) sharing is free. So if the work is already done and solved their problem, why not also share it as gift.

This remains unchanged.

The driving force of FOSS is not "how can I fix someone else's problem". It never has been.

Well.. maybe on HN it was different, but that's not "the open source ecosystem". And, yes, maybe some corps have gaslit naive people into believing that they must donate their lives to said corps.

Re: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

#212

Post by SecretDreams »

beej71 wrote: post #161
SecretDreams wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like it's such a lack of self respect and respect for others when people write using AI on personal blogs. Reading AI code is very pleasant. It's well annotated and consistent - how I like to read code (although not how I write code LOL). Reading language/opinions is not meant to be this way. It becomes repetitive, boring, and feels super derivative. Why would you turn the main way we communicate with each oth…

It's also because we (generally) consider a blog to be human communication and we consider math and programs to be something else. If you're talking to someone on the phone and halfway through they identify themselves as a bot, surprising you, there's a profound sense of something like betrayal. A moment ago you were having a human connection, and suddenly that vaporized. You were misled and were just talking to an u…

Totally agree. I'll extend this to email and slacks, too. I cannot stand getting AI written slop from fellow co-workers because they couldn't write the message themselves. Do not even bother to engage with me if you need to put your thoughts through an AI first. It won't go well. People gotta work on themselves a lot more and I think they're using AI to do the opposite.

Re: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

#213

Post by apt-apt-apt-apt »

Spide_r wrote: post #11

Its worth mentioning that this essay has some signs of being either partially AI generated or heavily edited through an LLM. Some of the signs are there (It's not X, it's Y), With the blog having gone from nearly zero activity between 2015 and 2025 to have it explode in posts and text output since then also raises an eyebrow.

Why is this sentiment expressed so often ("It was written/edited by AI"?

It seems to bother people, perhaps since it may have been low-effort. Doesn't it not matter as long as the content is good? Otherwise, it seems to be no different than a standard low-quality post.

Re: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

#215

Post by bonoboTP »

Spide_r wrote: post #11

Its worth mentioning that this essay has some signs of being either partially AI generated or heavily edited through an LLM. Some of the signs are there (It's not X, it's Y), With the blog having gone from nearly zero activity between 2015 and 2025 to have it explode in posts and text output since then also raises an eyebrow.

The comments as well. I won't give away the tells but HN is less and less pleasant to read. Now is the time to cherish your pockets of small scale high quality forums that's not flooded by this stuff yet.

Re: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

#216

Post by samiv »

skydhash wrote: post #210
samiv wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software is just means to an end. Data and data transformation is what people want. Software has sellable dollar value only because creating the software to do the data transformation has had real associated cost. I.e anyone who wanted a particular data transformation had to pay to get the software that does it. When you drive down that cost you drive down the potential value of the software products. Remember that w…

> Software is just means to an end. Data and data transformation is what people want. Software has sellable dollar value only because creating the software to do the data transformation has had real associated cost. I.e anyone who wanted a particular data transformation had to pay to get the software that does it. I do agree with you on that point. > If anyone can create "photoshop" with minimal cost and there are th…

You're right and I agree with you to an extent. Also as of now the tools aren't quite intelligent enough for one to produce software of that complexity without having someone competent at the helm.

That being said what already exists was already enough to shutter the stock prices of many software companies precisely because the fear is that their clients will just re-create the software themselves instead of buying it from someone else.

I guess we'll see how this will pan out in the next few years.

Re: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

#217

Post by bonoboTP »

apt-apt-apt-apt wrote: post #213
Spide_r wrote: post #11

Its worth mentioning that this essay has some signs of being either partially AI generated or heavily edited through an LLM. Some of the signs are there (It's not X, it's Y), With the blog having gone from nearly zero activity between 2015 and 2025 to have it explode in posts and text output since then also raises an eyebrow.

Why is this sentiment expressed so often ("It was written/edited by AI"? It seems to bother people, perhaps since it may have been low-effort. Doesn't it not matter as long as the content is good? Otherwise, it seems to be no different than a standard low-quality post.

When I want to read Ai writing (which is not never), I chat with it myself and I prompt it better and get more interesting stuff than these generic insight blogspam.

Re: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

#218

Post by ramoz »

mountainriver wrote: post #42
hackersk wrote: post #6

[flagged]

I feel like I mitigate this well by just running in a “plan” mode and really understanding everything it does and being careful to test every piece

Yea I spend a lot of time in plan mode, annotating/iterating on plans before I feel good to hit go.

Re: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

#219

Post by bonoboTP »

WarmWash wrote: post #76
thinkingemote wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's now almost certain that every submission about LLMs will be written (or assisted) by LLMs. That this kind of writing puts a great number of us off is not important to many who seek their fortune in this industry. I hear the cry: "it's my own words the LLM just assisted me". Yes we have to write prompts.

I think it is very fair to say that in the same way that LLM's have given english majors access to programming, LLMs have also given engineers access to clear communication. I'm not shy to admit that LLMs even from 2 years ago could communicate ideas much better than me, especially for a general audience.

It's often warping the message or "snapping it to grid", taking off the edge, the unique insight. A lack of clear communication is much more a symptom of unclarity about the intended message, audience, prioritization etc. I don't doubt that you internally have a clear idea but sharing it requires thinking about the intended audience and the diff of their current state of knowledge and doubt and where you want to move their thinking. This is a much bigger part than knowing eloquent vocab and grammar tricks.

It doesn't come naturally to the more introverted type of person who cares about the object level problem and not whatever anyone else may know or doubt, I'll admit this. But slapping LLMs on it is not a great solution.

Re: AI Made Writing Code Easier. It Made Being an Engineer Harder

#220

Post by lakrici88284 »

fma wrote: post #50
hackersk wrote: post #6

[flagged]

I have my own side project that I vibe coded. I probably did what would take one team 6 montns and produced it myself in one month. I'm not afraid of breaking stuff because it is only a small set of users. However for my own code for my professional job no way I would go that fast because I would impact millions of users. It is insane that companies think they can replace teams wholesale while maintaining quality.

> It is insane that companies think they can replace teams wholesale while maintaining quality.

The assumption is that AI will continue to improve. If we get another one or two quality jumps over the next 1-3 years, which is not totally unreasonable, AI quality might be good enough.

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