The West Forgot How to Build. Now It's Forgetting Code https://techtrenches.dev/p/the-west-forgot-how-to-make-things
@MossRC IMO it doesn’t matter whether AI gets better or not, you need experienced software developers even if they’re just prompting stuff.
In a somewhat convoluted example, the nicest concert piano in the world is useless if you let the orchestra owner play on it instead of a pianist.
@thomasfuchs Agreed. I'm deeply concerned at the coming loss of knowledge and insurmountable tech debt that lies ahead if more people in software engineering (and especially the managers) don't get their heads around this soon.
It's a tool; its power lies in the augmentation, not replacement, of skilled human talent.
@MossRC I'm writing an app for the iPhone and iPad, very proud of it. And someone is like "oh, are you using AI?" no. I'm writing it by hand "Why? AI does it for you" because I have a $25,000 computer science degree and I want it done right the first time.
@praetor Likewise with some game dev stuff I'm doing in my (very limited) spare time. I also want to actually learn and improve my skills, and to think carefully about the design and architecture -- because I know it'll be better (and feel more rewarding) that way.
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@MossRC if there is a bug in my software, I probably already know about it and used duct tape until I could get back to the implementation and just forgot about it. And those are quick fixes. I don't want to fix miles of code that I have zero idea how it even works. And these LLMs will try and pull a fast one on you too if you don't know what you're looking at.
@praetor Yep, makes sense. I've not coded professionally, despite my CS degree, but I know enough to know that I don't want an LLM coding for me -- especially as I have barely any experience in real-world software architecture, which means the unknown unknowns for me are vast, and you can't maintain or fix code you don't understand.