Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

old.reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 236 posts

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#211

Post by tovej »

estimator7292 wrote: post #192
tovej wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you use an LLM to generate source code you are vibecoding. You specify the problem in natural language (the vibes) and the LLM spits out source (the code). Whether you review it or not, that is vibecoding. You did not go through the rigor of translating the requirements to a programming language, you had a nondeterministic black box generate something in the rough general vicinity of the prompt. Are people serious…

> If you use an LLM to generate source code you are vibecoding No, you're not. > Are people seriously trying to redefine what vibecoding is? Yes, you are.

No, that is literally vibecoding. Reviewing vibecoded source is just an extra step. It's like saying "I'm not power toolgardening, I use a pair of gardening scissors afterwards." You still did power tool gardening.

As additional proof, the dictionary definition of vibe coding is "the use of artificial intelligence prompted by natural language to assist with the writing of computer code" [1]

It seems like vibecoders don't like the label and are retconning the term.

[1] https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/vibe-co...

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#212

Post by tovej »

xboxnolifes wrote: post #190
tovej wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see. I would not consider these to be serious projects. I'm sure they give people joy, and contain some decent problem solving, but they are both small extensions to existing software, and are not really solving interesting new problems or creating their own systems.

The first one is hardly a small extension. It's millions of lines of code, which is multiple times more than the version of Minecraft it extends.

The size of the project is not what matters. It's the systems it includes and how complex they are.

Actually, that raises a question: are the more complex systems in this collection of projects vibecoded or programmed by a human? Which parts are you aware of that invlude LLM output?

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#213

Post by tovej »

dwb wrote: post #185
tovej wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, where are you using the tools? What programming language? what domain? Are you willing to share the projects you're working on?

TypeScript and Go on a 1.5 million SLOC production codebase; a complex SaaS tool for financial planning and analysis. Quite far from being “just CRUD”. Before Anthropic Opus 4.5 I was trying out Claude Code and wasn’t all that impressed, but since then it’s definitely helped. The project I wrapped up before Christmas would have gone into the new year without it. You’ve still got to keep a close eye on it; whenever I’…

So is this a web app with a go backend?

I don't know where you got the "just CRUD" quote from. I never mentioned CRUD. But this sure sounds like it would be CRUD with some additional models in the backend.

What makes it not just CRUD? Is it using some complex model for forecasting?

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#214

Post by AlexeyBelov »

gorgoiler wrote: post #19
_fs wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think that this is not happening here?

Worse, I am repeatedly being accused nowadays of being an LLM. It probably doesn’t help that I riff-write with only a rough outline of what I want to say, not how to say it. If the accusation is that I am an inference engine pumping out words based on a trailing context window then I am guilty as charged. It’s just that I run on Fe + C6H12O6 + O2 (a bloodstream charged with lunch and air) instead of y/C/N2 -> Si+e- (…

Repeatedly, on HN? I couldn't find such comments in your history.

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#215

Post by dwb »

tovej wrote: post #213
dwb wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TypeScript and Go on a 1.5 million SLOC production codebase; a complex SaaS tool for financial planning and analysis. Quite far from being “just CRUD”. Before Anthropic Opus 4.5 I was trying out Claude Code and wasn’t all that impressed, but since then it’s definitely helped. The project I wrapped up before Christmas would have gone into the new year without it. You’ve still got to keep a close eye on it; whenever I’…

So is this a web app with a go backend? I don't know where you got the "just CRUD" quote from. I never mentioned CRUD. But this sure sounds like it would be CRUD with some additional models in the backend. What makes it not just CRUD? Is it using some complex model for forecasting?

I wasn't quoting you, they are scare quotes. It is a web app with a TypeScript and Go backend, but to call it a CRUD app would be misleading (despite the fact that yes once you boil it all down, everything is a CRUD operation) because it's a complex and flexible web app. It's the kind of thing that a bunch of people would prefer to be a native app; it's spreadsheet-like.

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#216

Post by AlexeyBelov »

tuhgdetzhh wrote: post #207
AlexeyBelov wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even people who are actively embracing it don't want to have 95% of all submissions in most dev-related subs be LLM-adjancent. There are separate subreddits for that, just like there are subreddits about MacOS and Linux specifically, despite a huge number of devs using those OSes. Also, most discussions about AI / LLMs on career or general programming subreddits are not what I would call productive. I _want_ new usef…

[flagged]

I'm not posting LLM comments. Stop bothering me.

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#217

Post by gorgoiler »

AlexeyBelov wrote: post #214
gorgoiler wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worse, I am repeatedly being accused nowadays of being an LLM. It probably doesn’t help that I riff-write with only a rough outline of what I want to say, not how to say it. If the accusation is that I am an inference engine pumping out words based on a trailing context window then I am guilty as charged. It’s just that I run on Fe + C6H12O6 + O2 (a bloodstream charged with lunch and air) instead of y/C/N2 -> Si+e- (…

Repeatedly, on HN? I couldn't find such comments in your history.

"your post was written by an LLM": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47584052

"I hate this AI slop commenting fad": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47385722

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#218

Post by beej71 »

jason_oster wrote: post #201
beej71 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are groups for carpenters who only use hand tools. Obsolete and existing. And, arguably, still useful to all.

True, but carpenters using hand tools are a niche. If you are implying that programmers who hand code are going the way of carpenters using hand tools, I think I can agree.

I do... but I also think all programmers need to know how to hand code, and all carpenters need to know how to use hand tools.

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#219

Post by xphos »

phpnode wrote: post #150
archagon wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Compilers are an abstraction. AI coding is not an abstraction by any reasonable definition.

You're only thinking that because we're mostly still at the imperative, REPL stage. We're telling them what to do in a loop. Instead we should be declaring what we want to be true.

The value is in the imperative, the computer does what you tell it do, The control is very powerful and is arguably a major reason computer technology is as power and popular as it is today. Bits don't generally speaking argue with you the same way analog programming if by electronics or mechanical means did before the transistor.

You can certainly write in imperative or functional but you are still telling the computer what you want. LLM use impercise language can generate loose binding the actual reality people one. They have there use cases too but they have a radically different locus of control. Compilers don't ask you to give up percision either they will do what you tell them to do. AI can do whatever it thinks is the most likely next token which is foundationally different from what we do when we engage in programming or writing in general

Re: r/programming bans all discussion of LLM programming

#220

Post by randomtoast »

AlexeyBelov wrote: post #214
gorgoiler wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worse, I am repeatedly being accused nowadays of being an LLM. It probably doesn’t help that I riff-write with only a rough outline of what I want to say, not how to say it. If the accusation is that I am an inference engine pumping out words based on a trailing context window then I am guilty as charged. It’s just that I run on Fe + C6H12O6 + O2 (a bloodstream charged with lunch and air) instead of y/C/N2 -> Si+e- (…

Repeatedly, on HN? I couldn't find such comments in your history.

[flagged]
Post reply on HN