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I'm going back to writing code by hand

blog.k10s.dev

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Re: I'm going back to writing code by hand

#521

Post by zuccidevs »

sirwhinesalot wrote: post #277
IdiotSavage wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, basically you need to micro-manage it. Where are your 10x gains now? And is it fun to work like that?

This is actually what I do. I'm extremely picky about the code and force the LLM to rewrite it 1000x times until it is basically exactly what I want. You might be wondering what is the point when it would be faster for me to just write the code myself? I have ADHD and for whatever reason telling the LLM what to do instead of doing it myself bypasses the task avoidance patterns and/or focus problems I tend to suffer f…

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Re: I'm going back to writing code by hand

#523

Post by indoordin0saur »

djeastm wrote: post #275

When it was Copilot tab-completing lines, people would say, "yea, but you still have to make sure you're the one writing the whole functions". Then when it was completing functions, people would say, "yeah, but you still have to make sure you're the one writing the logic around the functions" Then when it was completing the logic around the functions, people would say, "yeah, but you still have to make sure you're th…

It's even farther along than you think. It's the one writing the comments you're responding to. So why are you still thinking up and typing out your HN comments?

Re: I'm going back to writing code by hand

#524

Post by dailywriterguy »

As a writer, this resonates.

There's a massive difference in good human "writin" and a dozen paragraphs of "it's not x, it's a y".

But unfortunately everyone "reads" English. So, at least devs have mysterious computer languages that have strings of numbers that most of us look at and immediately get a migrain from attempting to comprehend what it means.

keep up the good work and the craft of building things one keystroke at a time.

Re: I'm going back to writing code by hand

#525

Post by Kiro »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #498
xXSLAYERXx wrote: post #484

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hear you. You're frustrated. Some people are having success with it. What have you tried to do with it? > Humans can be held accountable for their own slop If you're a human and AI writes code for you you are ultimately responsible.

The only people having success with LLMs right now are people who don't actually care about quality. Anyone who cares about producing good work recognized a long time ago that LLMs are not fit for purpose, and isn't relying on them.

Funny how you spend your days spreading this nonsense, like if someone would deny reality just because you keep repeating it. Everyone knows that what you're saying isn't true, so you're wasting your time.

Re: I'm going back to writing code by hand

#526

Post by seanw444 »

fancythat wrote: post #315
20k wrote: post #151

I always find these kinds of posts interesting, to compare the velocity that people seem to get with Ai, vs what I get by just coding by hand Coincidentally I've been working on a project for about 7 months now: its a 3d MMO. Currently its playable, and people are having fun with it - it has decent (but needs work) graphics, and you can cram a few hundred people into the server easily currently. The architecture is p…

You nailed it, I came to the same conclusion recently. When people show me what have they done with LLM, I am left unimpressed as mostly they show things that can be done manually in a very short time. I also failed to observe the rise in availability of impressive software, which coincides with the fact that LLMs are currently being used to solve simple problems, instead of important ones.

> LLMs are currently being used to solve simple problems, instead of important ones

Which is still cool. I just wish people were more honest about this.

Re: I'm going back to writing code by hand

#527

Post by ramraj07 »

dailywriterguy wrote: post #524

As a writer, this resonates. There's a massive difference in good human "writin" and a dozen paragraphs of "it's not x, it's a y". But unfortunately everyone "reads" English. So, at least devs have mysterious computer languages that have strings of numbers that most of us look at and immediately get a migrain from attempting to comprehend what it means. keep up the good work and the craft of building things one keyst…

The comparison is not valid. When writing let's say a novel, you cant just tell some random dude "write chapter 4" - you cant outsource it to a human so it only makes neither can you outsource it to ai.

Software engineering is not that. You absolutely can and often will hand ofoff work to humans. Its not inherently that creative in the actual coding part.

Re: I'm going back to writing code by hand

#528

Post by glial »

WalterBright wrote: post #451
pron wrote: post #192

Yep. The only people I've heard saying that generated code is fine are those who don't read it. The problem is that the mitigations offered in the article also don't work for long. When designing a system or a component we have ideas that form invariants. Sometimes the invariant is big, like a certain grand architecture, and sometimes it’s small, like the selection of a data structure. You can tell the agent what the…

My own code is contortious. I refactor it regularly to reduce that, but it still can be better.

I think this agrees with the parent's point. How do you know when to refactor?

Re: I'm going back to writing code by hand

#529

Post by DrTung »

If you're an old geezer like me, doesn't this "AI revolution" remind you of the "BASIC revolution" in the 70s and 80s, i.e. when the BASIC language was new and hot.

BASIC at that time was heralded as a much simpler and faster way to program. Rings a bell?

Re: I'm going back to writing code by hand

#530

Post by mdswanson »

djeastm wrote: post #275

When it was Copilot tab-completing lines, people would say, "yea, but you still have to make sure you're the one writing the whole functions". Then when it was completing functions, people would say, "yeah, but you still have to make sure you're the one writing the logic around the functions" Then when it was completing the logic around the functions, people would say, "yeah, but you still have to make sure you're th…

I refer to this as "disposable architecture." Not that architecture doesn't matter, but that the architecture that worked yesterday doesn't necessarily need to be the architecture that works today.
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