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Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

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Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#61

I have about 6 months of coding experience. All I really knew was how to build a basic MERN app I’ve been using Sonnet 3.5 to code and I’ve managed to build multiple full fledged apps, including paid ones Maybe they’re not perfect, but they work and I’ve had no complaints yet. They might not scale to become the next Facebook, but not everything has to scale

Can you share some examples?

ThumbnailGenius.com (has a ton of new features I haven’t pushed yet as I wait for approval from a payment processor)

MetHacker.io (has a lot of features I had to remove because of X API’s new pricing - see /projects on it)

GoUnfaked.com

PlaybookFM.com

TokenAI.dev (working with blowfish to remove the warning flag)

Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do if your app has a bug that your LLM isn't able to fix? is your coding experience enough to fix it, or do you ship with bugs hoping customers won't mind?

What's the point of this question? Everybody ships nasty bugs in production that he himself might find impossible to debug, everybody. Thus he will do the very same thing me, you or anybody else on this planet do, find a second pair of eyes, virtually or not, paying or not.

I haven’t encountered any serious bugs - mostly because I know what I’m capable of and what Sonnet is capable of. I don’t tackle things that are far too ambitious and focus on ideas I want to experiment with or ideas I can build the MVP for

If I do encounter situations that Sonnet can’t fix - usually because it has outdated knowledge - I just read the latest documentation

Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#63

I have about 6 months of coding experience. All I really knew was how to build a basic MERN app I’ve been using Sonnet 3.5 to code and I’ve managed to build multiple full fledged apps, including paid ones Maybe they’re not perfect, but they work and I’ve had no complaints yet. They might not scale to become the next Facebook, but not everything has to scale

I'm not saying you're wrong at all or in disbelief -- but I've spent lots of time with Claude 3.5 trying to prototype React apps and not even full fledged prototypes -- and I can't get it to make anything bug free somehow.

Maybe I'm "holding it wrong" -- I mean using it incorrectly.

True it renders quite interesting mockups and has React code behind it -- but then try and get this into even a demoable state for your boss or colleagues...

Even a simple "please create a docker file with everything I need in a directory to get this up and running"...doesn't work.

Docker file doesnt work (my fault maybe for not expressing I'm on Arm64), app is miss configured, files are in the wrong directories, key things are missing.

Again just my experience.

I find Claude interesting for generating ideas-- but I have a hard time seeing how a dev with six months experience could get multiple "paid" apps out with it. I have 20 years (bla, bla) experience and still find it requires outrageous hand holding for anything serious.

Again I'm not doubting you at all -- I'm just saying me personally I find it hard to be THAT productive with it.

Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#64

I have about 6 months of coding experience. All I really knew was how to build a basic MERN app I’ve been using Sonnet 3.5 to code and I’ve managed to build multiple full fledged apps, including paid ones Maybe they’re not perfect, but they work and I’ve had no complaints yet. They might not scale to become the next Facebook, but not everything has to scale

I'm not saying you're wrong at all or in disbelief -- but I've spent lots of time with Claude 3.5 trying to prototype React apps and not even full fledged prototypes -- and I can't get it to make anything bug free somehow. Maybe I'm "holding it wrong" -- I mean using it incorrectly. True it renders quite interesting mockups and has React code behind it -- but then try and get this into even a demoable state for your…

would you be willing to share any of your chats? Like say the docker one?

Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#65

I have about 6 months of coding experience. All I really knew was how to build a basic MERN app I’ve been using Sonnet 3.5 to code and I’ve managed to build multiple full fledged apps, including paid ones Maybe they’re not perfect, but they work and I’ve had no complaints yet. They might not scale to become the next Facebook, but not everything has to scale

Genuine question: Do you feel like you're learning the language/frameworks/techniques well? Or do you feel like you're just getting more adept at leveraging the LLM? Do you think you could you maintain and/or debug someone else's application?

Not as much as I would have if I was writing everything from scratch. But then again, my goal isn’t to be a coder or get a job as a coder - I’m primarily a marketer and got into coding simply because I had a stack of ideas I wanted to experiment with

Most of the things I’ve built are fun things

See: GoUnfaked.com and PlaybookFM.com as examples

PlaybookFM.com is interesting because everything from the code to the podcasts to the logo are AI generated

Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#66
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do if your app has a bug that your LLM isn't able to fix? is your coding experience enough to fix it, or do you ship with bugs hoping customers won't mind?

What I see is people using llm to make a new app without the bug

There's always a bug, you just haven't found it yet

Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#67

I have about 6 months of coding experience. All I really knew was how to build a basic MERN app I’ve been using Sonnet 3.5 to code and I’ve managed to build multiple full fledged apps, including paid ones Maybe they’re not perfect, but they work and I’ve had no complaints yet. They might not scale to become the next Facebook, but not everything has to scale

I learned to drive before in-car GPS was widely available, at least where I lived.

Going to some new place meant getting a map, looking at it, making a plan, following the plan, keeping track on the map, that sort of thing.

Then I traveled somewhere new, for the first time, with GPS and a navigation sofware. It was quite impressive, and rather easier. I got to my destination the first time, without any problems. And each time after that.

But I did remark that I did not learn the route. The 10th time, the 50th time, I still needed the GPS to guide me. And without it, I would have to start the whole thing from scratch: get a map, make a plan, and so on.

Having done the "manual" navigation with maps lots of times before, it never worries me what I would do without a GPS. But if you're "born" with the GPS, I wonder what you do when it fails.

Are you not worried how you would manage your apps if for some reason the AIs were unavailable?

Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#68
post #53
post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everybody ships nasty bugs in production that he himself might find impossible to debug, everybody. No.

Some people haven't realised it yet.

Which would be a lot better than knowingly releasing in production code with important defects.

Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#69
post #60
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WebAssembly sandboxes might become handy.

That guards against a small subset of vulnerabilities. Since the original desire was to build any kind of personal/commercial app on an OS, the amount of potential vulnerabilities is potentially infinite.

This ultimately why I believe Microsoft and Apple will be the big winners. I suspect a lot of companies will want Microsoft and Apple to sign off on things and Microsoft and Apple are going to make sure they get their cut. We may need a new layer above existing operating systems in the future, to safeguard things.

Re: Claude AI built me a React app to compare maps side by side

#70

I have about 6 months of coding experience. All I really knew was how to build a basic MERN app I’ve been using Sonnet 3.5 to code and I’ve managed to build multiple full fledged apps, including paid ones Maybe they’re not perfect, but they work and I’ve had no complaints yet. They might not scale to become the next Facebook, but not everything has to scale

I learned to drive before in-car GPS was widely available, at least where I lived. Going to some new place meant getting a map, looking at it, making a plan, following the plan, keeping track on the map, that sort of thing. Then I traveled somewhere new, for the first time, with GPS and a navigation sofware. It was quite impressive, and rather easier. I got to my destination the first time, without any problems. And…

You have to temper your ambitions. Choose languages it understands really well (typescript or python). Choose easier deployment solutions (vercel over docker). Be specific about the versions you’re using (“I’m using nextjs 14 with app router”)
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