Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
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Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
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Re: Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
#2I feel the same, I'm now building more side projects with the help of AI even if they're only for me
Re: Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
#3[flagged]
Re: Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
#4[flagged]
I don't understand this comment at all - it's very obviously written about personal experience with development, doesn't read like it was written with AI, and the sentiment is nice.
Sure, the projects mentioned aren't the most impressive pieces of software ever written, but isn't that kind of the point of the article?
Re: Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
#5[flagged]
I don't understand this comment at all - it's very obviously written about personal experience with development, doesn't read like it was written with AI, and the sentiment is nice. Sure, the projects mentioned aren't the most impressive pieces of software ever written, but isn't that kind of the point of the article?
> I don't understand this comment at all
It's the new way of attempting to be an edgelord, so we'll see quite a bit of it for a while, unfortunately. It doesn't have to be accurate or relevant.
Re: Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
#6By the authors definition, I've been writing perfect software for over a decade.
It's never required LLMs. In fact, I think the idea that "LLMs allow us to write software for ourselves" borders on missing the point, for me at least. I write software for myself because I like the exploratory process .. figuring out how do do something such that it works with as little friction as possible from the side of the user; who is of course myself, in the future.
I like nitpicking the details, getting totally side-tracked on seemingly frivolous minutiae. Frequently enough, coming to the end of a month long yak-shave actually contributes meaningful insight to the problem at hand.
I guess what I'm trying to say is "you're allowed to just program .. for no other reason than the fun of it".
As evidence for my claims: a few of my 'perfect' projects
https://github.com/scallyw4g/bonsai
Re: Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
#7This resonates with me. I'm not a programmer, and before LLM's I could only make basic hello world apps and simple websites. Now I am developing my own versions of various apps that I've used but maybe have limitations that I've become frustrated with. For example, I didn't like how the fitness tracker Strava didn't allow me to customize audio announcements, so now I have my own (and in my own eyes) better version of Strava that I use instead. It's absolutely blowing my mind that this is possible and available today, and not some tech-optimists wet dream about an impossible future.
Re: Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
#8By the authors definition, I've been writing perfect software for over a decade. It's never required LLMs. In fact, I think the idea that "LLMs allow us to write software for ourselves" borders on missing the point, for me at least. I write software for myself because I like the exploratory process .. figuring out how do do something such that it works with as little friction as possible from the side of the user; wh…
I get what you're saying - I personally scratch that itch by doing woodworking and hobby electronics; I just love doing it and the end product is often just a means to an end; to craft something and enjoying the process of it.
But programming doesn't give me that same feeling, and honestly; the scope of doing and learning everything needed to make my projects without LLM's are just way out of reach. Learning these things would not be relevant to my career or my other hobbies. So, for me I use LLM's the way a person who's not into carpentry might buy the services of a carpenter, despite the possibility of them doing the project themselves after investing tons of time into learning how.
Re: Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
#9By the authors definition, I've been writing perfect software for over a decade. It's never required LLMs. In fact, I think the idea that "LLMs allow us to write software for ourselves" borders on missing the point, for me at least. I write software for myself because I like the exploratory process .. figuring out how do do something such that it works with as little friction as possible from the side of the user; wh…
These days, I spend my personal coding time on building personal interfaces either as a shell script or as emacs packages. So many tools and applications hinders power usage.
Re: Perfect Software – Software for an Audience of One
#10Here is the demo of my perfect software.
However, I'm skeptical about AI, because what I've understood about agentic processes is more about cheap dopamine.
When it comes to medium-sized software development (over 50k LOC), there is much less fun and much more pain, because a growing codebase doesn't allow you to make new features easily.
I believe it is important not to mix up a dose of dopamine gotten from agentic results, as in the article, with achievement from longstanding work, even if it's not so attractive from a short-term perspective.