The Zed Shaw method!
Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
261–270 of 479 posts
Re: Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
#262This does not sound fun. It's better to work on your side projects with manual coding. You will learn more. Retyping things is inefficient for learning. It's like trying to retype calculus solutions — you don't learn from it. Even if there is an explanation of why the code is written in such a way, you did not come up with it, and you don't know alternative solutions. It is a practice for memorizing, not for building…
When I was learning to code at college, by myself (I did a Business degree), I bought a book on iOS development[0]. This book mandated that you type all the examples out line-by-line. I thought the idea was a pretty silly one, but I stuck with it because I didn't know what I was doing and wanted to learn. 14 years later, as a software engineer, I still think about that book and the way I can trace back a lot of my in…
> When I was learning to code at college, by myself (I did a Business degree), I bought a book on iOS development[0]. This book mandated that you type all the examples out line-by-line. I thought the idea was a pretty silly one, but I stuck with it because I didn't know what I was doing and wanted to learn.
It seems like an exercise to force you to attend to the details. I had a similar experience with a "certified X programmer" exam my employer bought for me. I wouldn't say passing such an exam makes anyone a good programmer, but it was an unexpectedly valuable experience because it forced me to attend to a broad set of details (instead of getting a spotty command of them, due to path-dependent experience).
Similar thing happens with notes: I rarely reference them but taking them keeps my mind from wandering.
Re: Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
#263Big no for retyping llm generated code by hand. But a big yes for still typing code by hand, and not leaving it to the llm. Except it has to be the code generated by your brain. That is what will create new neurons and new connections, which is what will keep away the cognitive decline. And the constraint of not having to use llms will enhance creativity. Actually, the constraints llms add to your code are more in nu…
> But a big yes for still typing code by hand, and not leaving it to the llm. Except it has to be the code generated by your brain. > That is what will create new neurons and new connections, which is what will keep away the cognitive decline. 100% agree with this. The problem is, your employer doesn’t care whether your brain is creating new neurons and connections. They care about productivity and profit. I feel lik…
It is game theory optimal to use LLMs as little as possible even if your employer wants you to use it. The less you use it, the more competitive you are in the market, and probably also in your current workplace, LLM usage metrics notwithstanding. This fact will remain true forever, even if LLMs always outperform handwritten code and all employers want you to use them.
Probably what you want to do is use it a lot when you first start a job to establish some productivity credence, then as you become ready to switch jobs, use it less and less until you're writing everything by hand and taking interviews.
Re: Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
#264This does not sound fun. It's better to work on your side projects with manual coding. You will learn more. Retyping things is inefficient for learning. It's like trying to retype calculus solutions — you don't learn from it. Even if there is an explanation of why the code is written in such a way, you did not come up with it, and you don't know alternative solutions. It is a practice for memorizing, not for building…
How do you build intuition about something you cannot remember?
Re: Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
#265Hah I was just thinking I should switch to colemak that I only let myself continue with for 2 months and re-type out all the domain (types, etc) for this project I'm working on
Re: Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
#266In highschool, my history teacher's home work assignments were to write out the notes he created and handed out for us. Essentially the assignments were to read chapters from the text-book, then copy the notes by hand and hand them in. It seemed odd. But I think their is some wisdom to it. As you writing it out, you are slowly reading what you are writing... even if you do not mean to.
Re: Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
#267Big no for retyping llm generated code by hand. But a big yes for still typing code by hand, and not leaving it to the llm. Except it has to be the code generated by your brain. That is what will create new neurons and new connections, which is what will keep away the cognitive decline. And the constraint of not having to use llms will enhance creativity. Actually, the constraints llms add to your code are more in nu…
I would love an agentic tool that simply finds code locations and opens them in my editor, so that I can write the implementation. I find this to be the most tedious and disorienting part, especially in languages without strong typing, that de-emphasize navigable references between classes. For example, wouldn’t necessarily need this tool for Java. Would like it for Ruby.
Re: Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
#268Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd say as long as we can clearly see the 5% are working better than an LLM, why not strive for it? Shows what humans are capable of, and it's probably achievable to most. I'm not hanging my hat yet and can still see where LLMs struggle. I think it's the best bet you can make: keep working for the future where you'll still be needed, because you can't prepare for the future where you're not.
How this presents, however, I would think, is that being that top 5% and utilizing LLMs will get you further than either alone.
I think that's a reasonable view. Though I personally see LLMs more as replacers, not as tools to utilize.
Re: Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
#269I simply never ask LLMs questions specific to my codebase (except for finding what function/file does something, because that is annoying), and instead use generic questions.
Re: Prevent cognitive debt by manually retyping LLM-generated code
#270So I always make sure I take a crack at doing what I want first. Then I ask for an AI review and it usually has a more efficient way to get the job done.
For example I had a working linear decay velocity boost function added to a godot scene and it's suggested refactoring actually reduced lines of code just today. So kind of happy when that works out, but yes I also applied the changes manually so I would grok them and hopefully remember it better.