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Automatic Programming

antirez.com

61–70 of 257 posts

Re: Automatic Programming

#61
> I'm a programmer, and I use automatic programming. The code I generate in this way is mine. My code, my output, my production. I, and you, can be proud.

I disagree. The code you wrote is a collaboration with the model you used. To frame it this way, you are taking credit for the work the model did on your behalf. There is a difference between I wrote this code entirely by myself and I wrote the code with a partner. For me, it is analogous to the author of the score of an opera taking credit for the libretto because they gave the libretto author the rough narrative arc. If you didn't do it yourself, it isn't yours.

I generally prefer integrated works or at least ones that clearly acknowledge the collaboration and give proper credit.

Re: Automatic Programming

#62
post #61

> I'm a programmer, and I use automatic programming. The code I generate in this way is mine. My code, my output, my production. I, and you, can be proud. I disagree. The code you wrote is a collaboration with the model you used. To frame it this way, you are taking credit for the work the model did on your behalf. There is a difference between I wrote this code entirely by myself and I wrote the code with a partner.…

How many JavaScript libraries does the average fortune 1000 developer invoke when programming?

Re: Automatic Programming

#63
post #18

> Pre-training is, actually, our collective gift I feel like this wording isn't great when there are many impactful open source programmers who have explicitly stated that they don't want their code used to train these models and licensed their work in a world where LLMs didn't exist. It wasn't their "gift", it was unwillingly taken from them. > I'm a programmer, and I use automatic programming. The code I generate i…

I don't understand this perspective. Programmers often scoff at most other examples of intellectual property, some throwing it out all together. I remember reading Google vs Oracle where Oracle sued Google for stealing code to perform a range check, about about 9 lines long, used to check array index bounds.

I guess the difference is AI companies bad? This is transformative technology creating trillions in value and democratizing information, all subsidized by VC money. Why would anyone in open source who claims to have noble causes be against this? Because their repo will no longer get stars? Because no one will read their asinine stack overflow answer?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_LLC_v._Oracle_America,_....

Re: Automatic Programming

#64
post #29
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's possible to separate any open source contribution from the ones that came before it, as we're all standing on the shoulders of giants. Every developer learns from their predecessors and adapts patterns and code from existing projects.

If you fork an open source project and nuke the git history, that's considered to be a "dick move" because you are erasing the record of people's contributions. LLMs are doing this on an industrial scale.

I don't really understand how that isn't allowed/disallowed simply on the basis of whether the licence permits use without attribution?

Re: Automatic Programming

#66
post #18

> Pre-training is, actually, our collective gift I feel like this wording isn't great when there are many impactful open source programmers who have explicitly stated that they don't want their code used to train these models and licensed their work in a world where LLMs didn't exist. It wasn't their "gift", it was unwillingly taken from them. > I'm a programmer, and I use automatic programming. The code I generate i…

when you inplement a quick sort, do you credit Hoare in the comments?

If I was implementing any known (named) algorithm intentionally I think I would absolutely say so in a comment (`// here we use quick sort to...` and maybe why it's the choice) and then it's easy for someone to look up and see it's due to Hoare or whoever on Wikipedia etc.

Re: Automatic Programming

#67
post #56

Friendly reminder that almost nobody is working this way now. You (reader) don't have to spend 346742356 tokens on that refactor. antirez won't magically swoop in and put your employer out of business with the Perfect Prompt (and accompanying AI blog post). There's a lot of software out there and MoltBook isn't going to spontaneously put your employer out of business either. Don't fall into the trap of thinking "if I…

Putting your head in the sand and ignoring it all isn't a good strategy either. Like it or not, AI will be a part of the rest of your career in some quantity. Not just because we collectively decide that we want to use these tools, but because tools that undeniably provide a huge productivity boost when used correctly are something the economy cannot ignore.

My advice would be to avoid feeling compelled to try every new tool immediately, but at least try to stay aware of major developments. A career in software engineering also dooms you to life-long learning in a very fast changing environment. This is no different. Agents are tools that work quite differently from what we're used to, and need cognitive effort and learning to wield effectively.

Waking up one day to realise you're now expected to work naturally in tandem with an AI agent but lack the experience is not a far-fetched scenario.

Re: Automatic Programming

#69
post #18

> Pre-training is, actually, our collective gift I feel like this wording isn't great when there are many impactful open source programmers who have explicitly stated that they don't want their code used to train these models and licensed their work in a world where LLMs didn't exist. It wasn't their "gift", it was unwillingly taken from them. > I'm a programmer, and I use automatic programming. The code I generate i…

Intellectual property is not absolute and can be expropriated, just like any other property.

Re: Automatic Programming

#70
post #51
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is knowledge, it can't be stolen. It is stolen only in the sense of someone gatekeeping knowledge. Which is as a practice, the least we can say, dubious. because is math stolen ? if you stole math to build your knowledge on top of it, you own nothing and can claim to have been stolen yourself

Are you against copyright, patents, and IP in all forms then?

I am.
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