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AI for programming is just a worse version of what we already had (slrpnk.net)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/fuck_ai@lemmy.world
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I worked as a software engineer.
AI is supposed to replace programmers, or at least help you write code.

But I never really wrote a lot of code in the first place??
I looked up libraries that do what I need and then wrote a bit of code in-between to link our API or GUI to the right functions of the selected library.

And these libraries were tested, functional and most of all consistent and reliable.

Now what do you want me to do? Ask an non-deterministic LLM to implement the code from scratch every time I need it in my project?
That doesn't makes sense at all.

That's like building a car and every day you ask somebody else to make you a new wheel. And every wheel will be slightly different than the previous. So your car will drive like shit.

Instead, why not just ask a reputable wheel manufacturer to make you 4 wheels? You know they will work. And in the case of programming, people are literally giving away good, reliable wheels for free! (free libraries and APIs)

Why use LLMs at all?

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[–] 2 points 5 months ago

Your example sounds fine to me, but I wonder if maybe the real value of AI coding that you're seeing is not "AI writes code" but rather "AI ignores all the coding rules/conventions, which were being badly applied in this case."

Like, I could picture trying to write a simple tool as you describe and running into the wall of "We're an Angular shop so you need to use the framework." But the AI isn't forced to follow these rules, so it can do a decent job.

This has been the main value of AI to me. It's just like, "sorry, the machine won't let me do a refund," as an alternative to listening a customer scream that they deserve a refund.

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