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Google gifts a Free AI Coding Assistant to the developer community

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Re: Google gifts a Free AI Coding Assistant to the developer community

#61

Post by azemetre »

fredgrott wrote: post #37
ndr wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is bad advice to people with the correct posture. If you want to learn: don't use these models to do the things for you. Do use these models to learn. LLMs might not the best teachers in the world but they're available right there and then when you have a question. Don't take their answers for granted and test them. Ask to teach you the correct terms for things you don't know yet, so you can ask better questions…

I had this argument with Mark Cuban recently and he admitted he was wrong, my example was using a calculator to learn calculus.... We are forgetting what general purpose name means to learning and real practical usage as a tool. BTW the best AI and Computer Science discussions are happening on bluesky

Who are these people on Bluesky?

Re: Google gifts a Free AI Coding Assistant to the developer community

#62

Post by xnx »

_mitterpach wrote: post #2

If you're a computer science student who is thinking of using this, don't. Don't use Copilot, Gemini, Cursor or any other code assisting tool for the several first years of your study or career. You will write code slower than others, sure, but what you'll learn and what you build will be a hundred times more useful for you than when you just copy and paste 'stuff' from AI. Invest in fundamentals, learn best practice…

If you're a student who is thinking of not using LLM's, don't.

You put yourself at a significant disadvantage by not availing yourself of an infinitely patient, non-judgemental, and thoroughly well read tutor/coach.

Re: Google gifts a Free AI Coding Assistant to the developer community

#64

Post by [deleted] »

_mitterpach wrote: post #2

If you're a computer science student who is thinking of using this, don't. Don't use Copilot, Gemini, Cursor or any other code assisting tool for the several first years of your study or career. You will write code slower than others, sure, but what you'll learn and what you build will be a hundred times more useful for you than when you just copy and paste 'stuff' from AI. Invest in fundamentals, learn best practice…

[deleted]

Re: Google gifts a Free AI Coding Assistant to the developer community

#65

Post by Nullabillity »

closewith wrote: post #53
Nullabillity wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Healthcare workers aren't negatively affected by having to put up with shitty software that doesn't actually work? That's news to me.

> Healthcare workers aren't negatively affected by having to put up with shitty software that doesn't actually work? Is your position that code produced with LLMs is _worse_ than the average human developer working alone? I would be far happier if the software I am forced to use professionally had been produced by developers guided by LLMs. But even if you are right, most software developers don't work on anything im…

> Is your position that code produced with LLMs is _worse_ than the average human developer working alone?

Absolutely.

> But even if you are right, most software developers don't work on anything important and most don't care about the software they output.

If it's not worth doing well, and it's not worth learning from... it's not worth doing.

Re: Google gifts a Free AI Coding Assistant to the developer community

#66

Post by pdimitar »

infecto wrote: post #46
pdimitar wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But be sure to understand what you auto-completed. If not, stop and learn. But that's IMO exactly what your parent commenter says. Use LLMs only after you actually have a clue what are they producing. So if you are a beginner, basically don't because you'll not have any understanding.

Nope, the theme of the parent was... >Don't use Copilot, Gemini, Cursor or any other code assisting tool for the several first years of your study or career. I totally disagree with it too and think its no different than using a book or SO from the past. As a Junior you copy paste many more lines of codes that you don't full appreciate and sometimes it simply just takes time of doing that to absorb the knowledge.

I don't think we disagree at all btw. IMO we all agree understanding of what the spat-out code actually does is mandatory and absolutely is NOT optional. The rest are really just details.

I agree that nowadays LLMs can fill in for SO and Reddit.

Re: Google gifts a Free AI Coding Assistant to the developer community

#67

Post by infecto »

pdimitar wrote: post #66
infecto wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, the theme of the parent was... >Don't use Copilot, Gemini, Cursor or any other code assisting tool for the several first years of your study or career. I totally disagree with it too and think its no different than using a book or SO from the past. As a Junior you copy paste many more lines of codes that you don't full appreciate and sometimes it simply just takes time of doing that to absorb the knowledge.

I don't think we disagree at all btw. IMO we all agree understanding of what the spat-out code actually does is mandatory and absolutely is NOT optional. The rest are really just details. I agree that nowadays LLMs can fill in for SO and Reddit.

Definitely we agree. I was only stating that the OP's opinion of don't use any LLM for the first 3 years could be disastrous.

Re: Google gifts a Free AI Coding Assistant to the developer community

#68

Post by karmakaze »

_mitterpach wrote: post #2

If you're a computer science student who is thinking of using this, don't. Don't use Copilot, Gemini, Cursor or any other code assisting tool for the several first years of your study or career. You will write code slower than others, sure, but what you'll learn and what you build will be a hundred times more useful for you than when you just copy and paste 'stuff' from AI. Invest in fundamentals, learn best practice…

I made my career investing in fundamentals, but started many decades ago. I can't in good conscience recommend it today. We will still be need some to do fundamental things (and they will be self-motivated and know who they are), but I don't think that's where most of humans will be in the stack. We should be at the top directing the machines, not competing with them.

Re: Google gifts a Free AI Coding Assistant to the developer community

#70

Post by sachinjain »

prismatix wrote: post #51
_mitterpach wrote: post #2

If you're a computer science student who is thinking of using this, don't. Don't use Copilot, Gemini, Cursor or any other code assisting tool for the several first years of your study or career. You will write code slower than others, sure, but what you'll learn and what you build will be a hundred times more useful for you than when you just copy and paste 'stuff' from AI. Invest in fundamentals, learn best practice…

I just interviewed someone for a Senior position who's been using these AI copilots for 1.5 years as a contractor. In the interview I politely said I wanted to evaluate their skills without AI, so no Cursor/Copilots allowed. They did not remember how to map through an array, define a function, add click/change handlers to input, etc.

Is this a good evaluation criterion anymore? Also, did you allow the candidate to use the internet?

Most of us do not remember the exact syntax for everything despite having coded in that language/framework for years.

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