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If AI writes your code, why use Python?

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Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#241

Post by malloryerik »

moosehater wrote: post #160
malloryerik wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using Clojure and Elixir and LLMs are fantastic with both. Sure, if I get to a super-stable situation then maybe I'd consider moving to Rust (or Jank?), but for now I'm just so happy with Clojure and Elixir in this new world. I'm solving new problems with fully bespoke architecture so the flexibility is key. Clojure for business logic and most DB. With Elixir, it's the actor model and hand-holding as I'm using it for…

What made you use Clojure for business logic and DBs rather than using Elixir for everything? The JVM ecosystem?

For me, I need to move fast and already knew Phoenix well, LiveView fits my use case, and websockets setup with Phoenix is very clear so switching to a two-language setup seemed better than CLJS. I could have gone CLJS re-frame and all that but it would have been more work and more unknowns. I call LLMs from Elixir also so all of the reconnect, backoffs, papercuts, shenanigans and so on, well I just know how to do this kind of thing better in Elixir. In its way Elixir is a great, like, defensive language. I was able to keep most async in Elixir and Clojure mostly synchronous. There was some pain though with bridge between the two and at times I thought I'd made a mistake. Clojure is fantastic with data and Datalog databases, so no regret. Outside world deals with Elixir, and the temple is in Clojure and Datalog.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#242

Post by cwnyth »

parsimo2010 wrote: post #238
throwawayk7h wrote: post #231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AI has not been trained on Lojban. And furthermore, this article is almost certainly primarily intended to be read by humans directly. I understand you're being facetious, but I'm not sure what point you're trying to make about programming languages in comparison.

It’s funny that in your reply “this article is almost certainly intended to be read by humans” you made what is the best case to keep writing code in Python even with AI. Sure, if you are going to have an AI do all your coding and maintenance you can use whatever language it’s best at. But if you want to participate in the writing, debugging, and maintenance, it has to be in a language that a human can read. I’m not…

Did you read the article? I think you're arguing against a strawman.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#244

Post by amarant »

GavinAnderegg wrote: post #211

It's strange to me that this blog post was written in English. If AI is available, why aren't we all communicating in Lojban? [0] It's an obviously superior language. What does it matter that many people already communicate in English and much of computing depends on that language? AI doesn't care about that. Plus, if you ever need to edit Lojban without AI, you should be able to pick it up in a few weeks, right? [0]…

Oh, I hadn't heard of lojban before. Cool project!

Anecdotally, I think language effects the way you think more than most people realise, which is why I think a logical language is a great idea: it might "trick" people into thinking more logically!

Now to get someone to actually speak it with!

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#246

Post by jdw64 »

To put it simply, Python feels recoverable when something goes wrong, but Rust often feels like solving a compiler puzzle. Honestly, I still do not really know how to handle lifetimes properly.

When I use AI to help with coding, there is almost always a point where it gets stuck and I have to solve the problem myself. If I were using Rust at that point, it would be much more painful.

I know Rust has a very strong reputation in the community, but to be honest, I find it a difficult and frustrating language to work with. I would use it when I truly need systems-level performance, but for most high-level work I would rather use Python, because I can move much faster. In most projects, that level of raw performance is not actually necessary.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#247

Post by parsimo2010 »

cwnyth wrote: post #242
parsimo2010 wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny that in your reply “this article is almost certainly intended to be read by humans” you made what is the best case to keep writing code in Python even with AI. Sure, if you are going to have an AI do all your coding and maintenance you can use whatever language it’s best at. But if you want to participate in the writing, debugging, and maintenance, it has to be in a language that a human can read. I’m not…

Did you read the article? I think you're arguing against a strawman.

I did read the article and I’m not arguing against a straw man. If you’re going to let an AI agent do everything for you then go ahead and use Rust (or any language with a strong type system that benefits agents).

But if I’m participating then I’m going to use Python because it’s easier to read.

If there’s anything that I’m arguing against is the author’s claim that the ecosystem of libraries (regardless of whether they are a wrapper) and readability don’t matter anymore. I’d say that in a lot of smaller teams it still matters. We’re not all using AI to ship slop. A lot of us are using AI to work on our ideas for our hobbies or for research. And it’s not fulfilling unless I get to be involved in the process.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#248

Post by bensyverson »

shepherdjerred wrote: post #203
bensyverson wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use Go. LLMs have seen a ton of it, they write it well, it compiles practically instantly, and it has all the advantages of a typed compiled language. I created a big Python codebase using AI, and the LLM constantly guesses arguments or dictionary formats wrong. Unit tests and stuff like pydantic help, but it's better to avoid that whole class of runtime errors altogether.

Why use Go when you can use Rust?

In short, compile times and a more full-featured stdlib

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#249

Post by isityettime »

mbreese wrote: post #163
bensyverson wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just use Go. LLMs have seen a ton of it, they write it well, it compiles practically instantly, and it has all the advantages of a typed compiled language. I created a big Python codebase using AI, and the LLM constantly guesses arguments or dictionary formats wrong. Unit tests and stuff like pydantic help, but it's better to avoid that whole class of runtime errors altogether.

That’s what I’ve settled on. Python is so flexible that there are a million ways to organize code, pass arguments, etc. If you already have a code base to work from, an LLM can make new code in the style of the old code. But a fresh project? Once you get to a certain level of complexity it quickly can turn into write once, read never code (even if the code is passing tests). This is where I’ve found that a compiled,…

TIMTOWTDI strikes back.

Re: If AI writes your code, why use Python?

#250

Post by za3faran »

pylotlight wrote: post #202
hirvi74 wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what is the selling point for Go? I get that it is allegedly hailed to be a simple language with basically no batteries included, but why is that a selling point? Does Go excel at anything no other language does?

Performance? Second only to rust and other lower level langs. Surely you don't need this spelled out for you...

Java and C# are there and faster.
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