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AI coding

geohot.github.io

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Re: AI coding

#261

Post by dheera »

onion2k wrote: post #48
bdcravens wrote: post #25

I'm almost 50, and have been writing code professionally since the late 90s. I can pretty much see projects in my head, and know exactly what to build. I also get paid pretty well for what I do. You'd think I'd be the prototype for anti-AI. I'm not. I can build anything, but often struggle with getting bogged down with all the basic work. I love AI for speed running through all the boring stuff and getting to the goo…

I love AI for speed running through all the boring stuff and getting to the good parts. In some cases, especially with the more senior devs in my org, fear of the good parts is why they're against AI. Devs often want the inherent safety of the boring, easy stuff for a while. AI changes the job to be a constant struggle with hard problems. That isn't necessarily a good thing. If you're actually senior by virtue of tim…

> Devs often want the inherent safety of the boring, easy stuff for a while.

Part of the problem is that in big orgs, you need to show consistent progress in order to not get put on some PIP and kicked out of the company. There are performance review cycles and you have to show something continuously.

That ONLY works if you have boring, easy work. It's easy to deliver consistent progress on that.

Interesting and difficult work is nice only if you are trusted to try your best and given the freedom to fail. That's the nature of hard problems; progress in those domains is very sudden and Poissonian and not consistent by nature. If you're going to be judged on your ability to be sub-Poissonian and consistent, and get put on a PIP for not succeeding at it one review cycle (and possibly risking income that you use to put a roof over your head or feed your family) it's not worth the career risk to try difficult things.

Not saying this is the way I think, it's just the reality of how things often work in big orgs, and one of the reasons I dislike many big orgs.

Re: AI coding

#262

Post by leptons »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #243
leptons wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose you've never used Adderall during coding sessions before (and assuming you don't have a prescription for ADHD).

I used it when it was called Ritalin. It interacts with alcohol, too. Interesting stuff (not exactly the same stuff, but damn similar). A lot of it. Other stuff, too, that makes it look like a cup of weak tea, but it’s been 45 years. I’m pretty familiar with the illusion of productivity.

Adderall is not Ritalin. They may both be stimulants, but they are different. They have different active ingredients, mechanisms of action, durations of action. Not really that similar in my experience. Ritalin is kind of weak, honestly.

>I’m pretty familiar with the illusion of productivity

II do not have ADHD and I'm familiar with successfully using Aderrall for actual productivity. YMMV. Turns out not everyone's brain chemistry is the same.

Re: AI coding

#263

Post by ttiurani »

bdcravens wrote: post #204
ttiurani wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can build anything, but often struggle with getting bogged down with all the basic work. I love AI for speed running through all the boring stuff and getting to the good parts. I'm in the same boat (granted, 10 years less) but can't really relate with this. By the time any part becomes boring, I start to automate/generalize it, which is very challenging to do well. That leaves me so little boring work that I spee…

> By the time any part becomes boring, I start to automate/generalize it, which is very challenging to do well. That leaves me so little boring work that I speed run through it faster by typing it myself than I could prompt it. The two aren't mutually exclusive. You can use AI to build your tooling. (Unless it's of sufficient complexity or value that you need to do the work yourself)

The time spent on the tooling is very low. Using AI for that would be like renting a flamethrower because couple of times a year I like to go camping and light a fire. I'd rather just use a lighter.

Re: AI coding

#264

Post by dmurvihill »

Yoric wrote: post #79
onion2k wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love AI for speed running through all the boring stuff and getting to the good parts. In some cases, especially with the more senior devs in my org, fear of the good parts is why they're against AI. Devs often want the inherent safety of the boring, easy stuff for a while. AI changes the job to be a constant struggle with hard problems. That isn't necessarily a good thing. If you're actually senior by virtue of tim…

Interesting point. There's also the fact that, while you're coding the easy stuff, your mind is thinking about the hard stuff, looking things up, seeing how they articulate. If you're spending 100% of your time on hard stuff, you might be hurting these preliminaries.

I haven't yet found a "boring, easy" problem that an AI could generate more easily than Vim.

Re: AI coding

#265

Post by ssivark »

bdcravens wrote: post #25

I'm almost 50, and have been writing code professionally since the late 90s. I can pretty much see projects in my head, and know exactly what to build. I also get paid pretty well for what I do. You'd think I'd be the prototype for anti-AI. I'm not. I can build anything, but often struggle with getting bogged down with all the basic work. I love AI for speed running through all the boring stuff and getting to the goo…

> I can pretty much see projects in my head, and know exactly what to build.

I think you’re the best case support for AI coding. You know clearly what you want, so you know clearly what you don’t want. So if you had decent verbal dexterity you could prompt the AI model and manage to accomplish what you intended.

A lot of programming problems / programmer contexts don’t match that situation. Which is the problem with universalizing the potency of AI / benefits of AI coding.

Re: AI coding

#266

Post by ThrowawayR2 »

agentcoops wrote: post #109
bdcravens wrote: post #25

I'm almost 50, and have been writing code professionally since the late 90s. I can pretty much see projects in my head, and know exactly what to build. I also get paid pretty well for what I do. You'd think I'd be the prototype for anti-AI. I'm not. I can build anything, but often struggle with getting bogged down with all the basic work. I love AI for speed running through all the boring stuff and getting to the goo…

I have a similar relation to AI with programming -- and my sense is very many HN readers do as well, evidenced not least by the terrific experience report from antirez [1]. Yet it is rare to see such honest and open statements even here. Instead, HN is full of endless anti-AI submissions on the front page where the discussion underneath is just an echo chamber of ill-substantiated attacks on 'AI hype' and where anyth…

antirez's success doesn't mean anything since antirez is far, far above average as a developer and is able to wield AI very effectively because of his talents and knowledge. Most developers are not remotely close to antirez's skill level (half are below average, by definition) and are likely going to suffer the problems that skeptics are already seeing.

Re: AI coding

#267

Post by mgrandl »

folkrav wrote: post #185
matt3D wrote: post #70

This is a more extreme example of the general hacker news group think about AI. Geohot is easily a 99.999 percentile developer, and yet he can’t seem to reconcile that the other 99.999 percent are doing something much more basic than he can ever comprehend. It’s some kind of expert paradox, if everyone was as smart and capable as the experts, then they wouldn’t be experts. I have come across many developers that beha…

> the general hacker news group think about AI I’m surprised to see this. From my perspective, reading comments and seeing which posts rise to the top, HN as a whole seems pretty bullish on the tech as whole…

I think there might also just be a vocal minority and/or some astroturfing hyping AI coding around hackernews. I personally keep trying all the latest shit and always stop using it, because it actively slows me down.

Re: AI coding

#268

Post by j3th9n »

“Some people go as far as to believe that perception is reality and that truth is a construction.” To the author: ask them what they mean.

Re: AI coding

#270

Post by typpilol »

dmurvihill wrote: post #264
Yoric wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting point. There's also the fact that, while you're coding the easy stuff, your mind is thinking about the hard stuff, looking things up, seeing how they articulate. If you're spending 100% of your time on hard stuff, you might be hurting these preliminaries.

I haven't yet found a "boring, easy" problem that an AI could generate more easily than Vim.

Vim can write basic unit tests?
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