Comment by cratermoon

Comment by cratermoon 3 days ago

2 replies

We've already gone through a couple of iterations of tools hyped to relieve programmers from the "tedium" of writing code. First, CASE tools with code generators, then UML was supposed to make it possible to draw diagrams telling the tool how to generate the code to implement the ideas.

Spicy autocomplete isn't going to solve the writing vs. thinking steps any better.

9dev 2 days ago

I don’t think that comparison is apt. I’m too young for CASE, but the problem with UML (and really all the big concepts from the XML era) has always been that it’s far too lofty in scope; generating full applications from diagrams is a pipe dream.

On the other hand, ”spicy autocomplete“ (loved that one) doesn’t promise salvation. It just finishes lines for you, one at a time. Often it just ”knows“ what you were about to type anyway. Sometimes it’s a bit off, you add a few characters, now it gets it. It’s not really magical, just… useful. These lines you don’t have to finish accumulate, and if you get into a healthy flow, it vastly speeds up the coding process.

  • cratermoon 2 days ago

    The AI Hype tends to lean towards salvation, so I'd ask the question, "is it worth it if isn't?" For all the billions of dollars, tens of TWh of electricity, and tsunamis of carbon emissions, is this limited usefulness all we get?