LLMs have shit memory and abstraction capabilities and just adding md files and more context is like trying to make a alzheimer patient learn to play the piano. Yes it kinda works to some degree to always repeat everything, but it's not true learning and just a bandaid.
Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
31–40 of 51 posts
Re: Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
#32LLMs have shit memory and abstraction capabilities and just adding md files and more context is like trying to make a alzheimer patient learn to play the piano. Yes it kinda works to some degree to always repeat everything, but it's not true learning and just a bandaid.
I mean that's certainly one opinion, but I mean, as you say, it does work.
Re: Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
#33I have found Cursor to be frustrating and exhausting to work with, even with my rules file. When it works, it’s like magic. But most of the time, it feels like working with a Jr. dev who has a bit of a concussion. Code review is wearying work, and using Cursor means you’re doing a lot of code review. I have never once gotten into a flow state with it. That was a long preamble to this question: any senior devs out the…
The trick I’ve been using is to copy the entire codebase into a text prompt with Repo Prompt and feed that into Grok with a specific request on what feature / change I want. Then paste that output into Cursor with Claude 3.7 and have it make the actual code changes and ask it to build/fix errors along the way with yolo mode enabled. The 2-step process is a lot better since Grok can refer to the entire context of your…
grok-3 beta in cursor has been good
Re: Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
#34This feels like a bandaid on a gaping wound to me. Maybe you're making certain aspects of using Cursor/Copilot Agent Mode less annoying, but they're still there and still annoying. In the parts of the open source LLM community that are interested in roleplay chat, the veterans seem to have the viewpoint that spending a lot of time tinkering to try to overcome the inherent flaws in this technology is relatively pointl…
> We're supposed to pay $20/mo with usage limits for that?
I never understood the pushback on pricing. A junior engineer maybe makes 150k a year in US so $20 is 16m of his time. If you can save 16m of a junior devs time a month, it’s worth it. Much less for more senior engineers.
Sure if it’s net negative then you wouldn’t use it even if it were free. But surely the value isn’t 0 < min saved < 16m so what’s the point of bringing up the price
Re: Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
#35LLMs have shit memory and abstraction capabilities and just adding md files and more context is like trying to make a alzheimer patient learn to play the piano. Yes it kinda works to some degree to always repeat everything, but it's not true learning and just a bandaid.
It's an implementation detail though. For example when you do multiple tasks in the same repo with the same rules, your context stays cached and you're not "repeating everything" anymore. Does that make a difference?
Re: Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
#36This feels like a bandaid on a gaping wound to me. Maybe you're making certain aspects of using Cursor/Copilot Agent Mode less annoying, but they're still there and still annoying. In the parts of the open source LLM community that are interested in roleplay chat, the veterans seem to have the viewpoint that spending a lot of time tinkering to try to overcome the inherent flaws in this technology is relatively pointl…
Maybe this is an issue with prompting? Some people get great results and other complain that the tool is useless.
If you explain the problem exactly as you would explain it to a junior coworker and gave it some handholding, it can save you a ton of time plus you don't have to actually hire such coworker. It also helps sharpen communication skills. If you cannot communicate what you want to Cursor, then most likely you cannot do that to human either, just that humans might be much better at getting the information out of you.
Just trying to say, I've been getting amazing results with Cursor as it is sparing me from doing some less "glamorous" tasks.
Re: Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been coding for 20+ years but I'm not sure that I'm a senior dev necessarily. That said, I use Cursor all the time and have had a lot of success. Mostly you have to guide it a lot in verbose, planning methodology, often chained via other LLMs. It is like working with a junior developer - no doubt about that. But that's still really good for $20/month. Coding is not my full time job and it really hasn't been more…
This was my experience, until the latest update. Suddenly cursor is useless. The agent option? Terrible. What’s manual, what’s ask? Just give me what i had before…such a step backwards.
The UI changed in the latest update but it’s not that hard.
Ask: previously was chat, and just tries to answer questions. Does not have the capability of editing your code directly (although if it provides a snippet, you can always click to apply it to the code).
Manual: previously was composer in standard mode. Can edit code across multiple files, but only works one prompt at a time. So if you ask it to edit tests, it will do that and then wait for your next input.
Agent: previously composer with agent mode enabled. Same as manual, but can figure out next steps and automatically execute them. For example, it can edit the tests, then run the CLI command to run the tests, then edit the code again if there are test failures, and repeat.
I find agent to be most helpful when you know the end goal but you need to be clear about what you want. Tell it things like “run the tests to make sure they’re working” and “search the codebase for where this class is used”.
I find manual best for when you know what small steps to do. Like, “create a helper class for managing permissions”, followed by “write tests for the profile view that checks permissions”, followed by “refactor the profile view to use the helper class”.
Re: Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
#38This feels like a bandaid on a gaping wound to me. Maybe you're making certain aspects of using Cursor/Copilot Agent Mode less annoying, but they're still there and still annoying. In the parts of the open source LLM community that are interested in roleplay chat, the veterans seem to have the viewpoint that spending a lot of time tinkering to try to overcome the inherent flaws in this technology is relatively pointl…
> We're supposed to pay $20/mo with usage limits for that? I never understood the pushback on pricing. A junior engineer maybe makes 150k a year in US so $20 is 16m of his time. If you can save 16m of a junior devs time a month, it’s worth it. Much less for more senior engineers. Sure if it’s net negative then you wouldn’t use it even if it were free. But surely the value isn’t 0 < min saved < 16m so what’s the point…
A junior engineer makes 70-100k in most places. The Bay Area distorts the actual market.
Re: Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
#39[deleted]
Re: Writing Cursor rules with a Cursor rule
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
This was my experience, until the latest update. Suddenly cursor is useless. The agent option? Terrible. What’s manual, what’s ask? Just give me what i had before…such a step backwards.
The UI changed in the latest update but it’s not that hard. Ask: previously was chat, and just tries to answer questions. Does not have the capability of editing your code directly (although if it provides a snippet, you can always click to apply it to the code). Manual: previously was composer in standard mode. Can edit code across multiple files, but only works one prompt at a time. So if you ask it to edit tests,…
Which one of those options was the default for command+L? I also find it’s always auto applying changes despite those options being off…just seems a lot less smart suddenly.