Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
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Re: Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
#2[deleted]
Re: Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
#3This is my second attempt learning Rust and I have found that LLMs are a game-changer. They are really good at proposing ways to deal with borrow-checker problems that are very difficult to diagnose as a Rust beginner.
In particular, an error on one line may force you to change a large part of your code. As a beginner this can be intimidating ("do I really need to change everything that uses this struct to use a borrow instead of ownership? will that cause errors elsewhere?") and I found that induced analysis paralysis in me. Talking to an LLM about my options gave me the confidence to do a big change.
Re: Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
#4This is my second attempt learning Rust and I have found that LLMs are a game-changer. They are really good at proposing ways to deal with borrow-checker problems that are very difficult to diagnose as a Rust beginner. In particular, an error on one line may force you to change a large part of your code. As a beginner this can be intimidating ("do I really need to change everything that uses this struct to use a borr…
I am old but C is similarly improved by LLM. Build system, boilerplate, syscalls, potential memory leaks. It will be OK when the Linux graybeards die because new people can come up to speed much more quickly
Re: Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
#5This is my second attempt learning Rust and I have found that LLMs are a game-changer. They are really good at proposing ways to deal with borrow-checker problems that are very difficult to diagnose as a Rust beginner. In particular, an error on one line may force you to change a large part of your code. As a beginner this can be intimidating ("do I really need to change everything that uses this struct to use a borr…
I don't see why it shouldn't be even more automated than that, with LLM ideas tested automatically by differential testing of components against the previous implementation.
EDIT: typo fixed, thx
Re: Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
#6This is my second attempt learning Rust and I have found that LLMs are a game-changer. They are really good at proposing ways to deal with borrow-checker problems that are very difficult to diagnose as a Rust beginner. In particular, an error on one line may force you to change a large part of your code. As a beginner this can be intimidating ("do I really need to change everything that uses this struct to use a borr…
I don't see why it shouldn't be even more automated than that, with LLM ideas tested automatically by differential testing of components against the previous implementation. EDIT: typo fixed, thx
I'm assuming you meant to type
> I don't see why it *shouldn't be even more automated
In my particular case, I'm learning so having an LLM write the whole thing for me defeats the point. The LLM is a very patient (and sometimes unreliable) mentor.
Re: Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
#7This is my second attempt learning Rust and I have found that LLMs are a game-changer. They are really good at proposing ways to deal with borrow-checker problems that are very difficult to diagnose as a Rust beginner. In particular, an error on one line may force you to change a large part of your code. As a beginner this can be intimidating ("do I really need to change everything that uses this struct to use a borr…
n_u's point about LLMs as mentors for Rust's borrow checker matches my experience. The error messages are famously helpful, but sometimes you need someone to explain the why.
I've noticed the same pattern learning other things. Having an on-demand tutor that can see your exact code changes the learning curve. You still have to do the work, but you get unstuck faster.
Re: Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
#8This is my second attempt learning Rust and I have found that LLMs are a game-changer. They are really good at proposing ways to deal with borrow-checker problems that are very difficult to diagnose as a Rust beginner. In particular, an error on one line may force you to change a large part of your code. As a beginner this can be intimidating ("do I really need to change everything that uses this struct to use a borr…
I don't see why it shouldn't be even more automated than that, with LLM ideas tested automatically by differential testing of components against the previous implementation. EDIT: typo fixed, thx
Defining tests that test for the right things requires an understanding of the problem space, just as writing the code yourself in the first place does. It's a catch-22. Using LLMs in that context would be pointless (unless you're writing short-lived one-off garbage on purpose).
I.e. the parent is speaking in the context of learning, not in the context of producing something that appears to work.
Re: Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't see why it shouldn't be even more automated than that, with LLM ideas tested automatically by differential testing of components against the previous implementation. EDIT: typo fixed, thx
Defining tests that test for the right things requires an understanding of the problem space, just as writing the code yourself in the first place does. It's a catch-22. Using LLMs in that context would be pointless (unless you're writing short-lived one-off garbage on purpose). I.e. the parent is speaking in the context of learning, not in the context of producing something that appears to work.
I'm not sure that's true. Bombarding code with huge numbers of randomly generated tests can be highly effective, especially if the tests are curated by examining coverage (and perhaps mutation kills) in the original code.
Re: Any application that can be written in a system language, eventually will be
#10I wonder when we'll start to see languages designed exclusively to be easy to write by agent programming.