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AI code and software craft

alexwennerberg.com

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Re: AI code and software craft

#71

Post by hackyhacky »

Ronsenshi wrote: post #63
hackyhacky wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You give examples where crafts based on pre-industrial technology still exist. You're right, but you're proving the GP's point. 200 years ago, being a blacksmith was a viable career path. Now it's not. The use of hand tools, hand knitting, and hand forging is limited to niche, exotic, or hobbyist areas. The same could be said of making clothes by hand or developing film photographs. Coding will be relegated to the sa…

> Effectively all software will be made by AI. Students will not study coding, the knowledge of our generation will be lost. Given the echo chamber of HN when it comes to AI that certainly seems inevitable. The question is - who would work on novel things or further AI model improvements if it so happens that knowledge of writing software by hand disappears?

I can answer your question in two ways:

1. AI will work on AI. 2. People will work on AI, but as a rare niche, not a mainstream area of software development.

Re: AI code and software craft

#72

Post by chickensong »

kumarvvr wrote: post #35

On a side track, I wish to express my fears regarding AI Unfortunately for the general populace, most technological improvements in information technology, for the past 5 decades, has lead to loss of political control and lessened their leverage for political change. With AI, this change is going to be accelerated a 100 times. With current AI slop, and more importantly, almost indistinguishable from reality, AI based…

Mass media has been going to shit for a long time anyway. People have always chosen to believe tons of insane things.

AI will cause plenty of problems of course, because it puts a powerful tool in the hands of those who shouldn't use it, but also, many people shouldn't drive cars or use the internet.

AI is inevitable, just as calculators and computers were. I suspect that no humans will write code by hand in a not so distant future. The machines will be far too effective.

Personally, I love the acceleration we're seeing since the coming of computers. The internet is a big black mirror, scary, beautiful, and ugly, just like us. AI feels similar to me.

Will some things get worse because of AI? Probably. But maybe it'll also help to save us from ourselves. If nothing else, it will probably force some investment into long overdue security, identity, and trust issues.

Re: AI code and software craft

#73

Post by danpalmer »

mattgreenrocks wrote: post #13
danpalmer wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> joined the industry circa 2013, and discovered that most of the big tech jobs were essentially glorified plumbers Most tech jobs are glorified plumbers. I've worked in big tech and in small startups, and most of the code everywhere is unglamorous, boring, just needs to be written. Satisfaction with the job also depends on what you want out of it. I know people who love building big data pipelines, and people who lo…

The right job for a person depends on whether they can rise above the specific flavor of pain that the job dishes out. BigTech jobs strike me as having an inextricable political element to them: so you enjoy jockeying for titles and navigating constant reorgs? The pay is nice but I find myself…remarkably unenvious as I get older.

Big companies are political and re-orgs lead to layoffs. Startups are a constant battle for funding and go out of business. Small companies mean a lot of exposure to bad management and budget issues. Charities are highly regulated and audited environments. Government jobs have no perks and entrenched middle management.

Every type of work has its idiosyncrasies, which people will either get on with or not. Mentioning one without the others is a bit disingenuous, or its whatever the opposite of the grass-is-greener bias is.

Re: AI code and software craft

#76

Post by enra »

skybrian wrote: post #2

Enterprise software tends to particularly bad because it's being sold to managers who won't use it themselves. Consumer software tends to be more user-friendly (or it won't sell), but popular software isn't always what you want. When writing software for yourself, there is a bias towards implementing just the features you want and never mind the rest. Sometimes the result can be pretty sloppy, but it works. However,…

Consumer software can be good, but it's often also optimized for max engagement, not for the actual value or functionality.

Enterprise software can be because there isn't an incentive mismatch, good solution is more valuable for the customers, it will sell better and they're willing to pay for it.

But like you say, lot of enterprise software is bad because it's optimized for the payer, not the user, and it's often shoehorned to weird workflows of the particular enterprise.

Re: AI code and software craft

#77

Post by sacha1bu »

This really nails the core issue: AI thrives in environments where software is treated as “good enough” optimization rather than craft. It’s not replacing great engineers so much as exposing how much of modern software has already become rote, metric-driven work. The Arts & Crafts parallel feels especially apt as mass-produced code gets cheaper, human judgment and taste become the real scarce resources.

Re: AI code and software craft

#78

Post by worksonmine »

fartfeatures wrote: post #46
nielsbot wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not in one prompt, but instead an orchestration of planning, implementing, validating, and reviewing Lots of times I could just write it myself and be done with it

Sure and lots of times I can walk places. That doesn't mean bikes, cars, trains and planes aren't incredibly useful. They let me achieve things I can't in other ways for example transporting cargo without a team of people to help me. Just like AI coding.

Would you still use your car if you ended up in the wrong destination half the time?

Re: AI code and software craft

#79

Post by XenophileJKO »

worksonmine wrote: post #78
fartfeatures wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure and lots of times I can walk places. That doesn't mean bikes, cars, trains and planes aren't incredibly useful. They let me achieve things I can't in other ways for example transporting cargo without a team of people to help me. Just like AI coding.

Would you still use your car if you ended up in the wrong destination half the time?

Yes, because I can drive to the other end of the state in an afternoon. Then if I get lost, I can just course correct.

Re: AI code and software craft

#80

Post by ekianjo »

trollbridge wrote: post #67
ekianjo wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. Polymers in clothes are everywhere and they have very désirable properties compared to pure cotton. Untreated cotton had many problems.

Materials other than cotton (like wool and leather) existed.

yup, but polymers are much, much cheaper to produce. And some have properties that no natural fabric can offer.
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