Comment by Waterluvian 4 days ago
I think I’m finally sold on actually attempting to add some LLM to my toolbelt.
As a helper and not a replacement, this sounds grand. Like the most epic autocomplete. Because I hate how much time I waste trying to figure out the command line incantation when I already know precisely what I want to do. It’s the weakest part of the command line experience.
There are times I feel minor guilt for using an LLM to relieve brainwork, like figuring out an algorithm. That's probably a skill I should continue practicing for my own sake.
ffmpeg commands though? It's really not a practical skill outside of using ffmpeg. There's nothing really rewarding to me about memorizing awkwardly designed CLI incantations. It's all arbitrary.
memorization is not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about
1. you have a problem, you try something and it doesn't work. 2. you find an LLM and it "gives" you the answer with one or two tries 3. problem solved! what have you learned? How to have answers given to you when you ask.
or 2. you look for an answer in a dizzying haze of man pages, quacks, and website Q&As. 3. you try and try again and eventually problem solved. you have learned not only how to solve a particular problem but your overall ability to solve similar problems has done up. You've learned how to fish, not just ask an LLM for a fish.
Not for me. It’s a tool I don’t care to use any more than I have to. I’m much more interested in what I’m using the tool to accomplish.
I am not talking about the tool per se. I am talking about the skill of persistence and creativity in the face of a problem.
Learning a tool is useful, even invaluable, but if you don't have the persistence to use it, it's useless.
And many tools are just partially useful under some conditions. So creativity in using them is also useful.
So it's not about the tools, its about not giving up and trying different things, which makes all tools more effective, and problem-solving more likely.
There's something to be said for that approach.
It's not the only approach, and definitely as someone once said, premature optimization is the root of all evil, and maybe you are optimizing at exactly the right time.
Who can tell?
But possibly the most rewarding. The struggle is its own reward that pays off later many times over.