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> "I feel like it's harder to get better at programming if you ask an AI to do the programming for you." In 2023, "Getting betting at programming" means learni

by rphv 3y ago

> "I feel like it's harder to get better at programming if you ask an AI to do the programming for you." In 2023, "Getting betting at programming" means learning how to use an AI.

teekert 3y ago
That's a good phrase "learning how to use an AI", indeed it's not just "using an AI". It's also a process and it involves learning or knowing how to code.
nurettin 3y ago
I think you still have to be pretty good at programming in order to bend a gpt to your will and produce a novel program. That's the current standoff. Might remain this way for a long time.
- PeterisP 3y ago
  I strongly disagree, I believe that it's likely someone who has never ever programmed would be able to solve multiple advent of code tasks using GPT-[x] models and some copy/pasting and retries, and I'm 100% convinced that a poor programmer (i.e. not "pretty good at programming" but has some knowledge) can do so.
  - nurettin 3y ago
    I think it would be entertaining to watch them try. It's going to spit out so many bugs and misunderstandings. Ready the popcorn moment for me.
    - xigoi 3y ago
      If someone actually does that, please link the video here, I would watch that so much…
__loam 3y ago
You still need to be basically literate to understand what you're doing, otherwise you're adding zero value. Making AI tools solve problems for you means you're not learning how to solve those problems. It's especially problematic when you don't have a clue about what you're doing and you just take the AI at its word.
cuddlyogre 3y ago
Offloading the use of your brain to proprietary and legally murky third party services that can deny you access for any reason whatsoever seems shortsided. What happens when you don't have access to these services and you find out you don't actually know how to do most of what you need to do?
- teekert 3y ago
  Or, get a head start using the murkiness and by the time the AIs are as common as smartphones and run well on local chips, you’re ahead of the pack.
  - cuddlyogre 3y ago
    And risk all of your work being owned by some entity you have no hopes of fighting against and being left with nothing to show for but an atrophied brain because you've offloaded all your thinking to a machine that doesn't belong to you and is not able to be audited. What is to stop the owners of these ai systems from denying service to users for trying to make a product that competes with them? Or just straight up taking your work and using it themselves? Why risk it?
nextaccountic 3y ago
Maybe this will be true in 2030, but in 2023 AIs can help you quickly get off the ground in unfamiliar domains but expert knowledge (or just being knowledgeable enough to write code) is still king. That is. If your goal is to quickly get out a prototype that may or may not work (even though you don't understand it very well), using AIs is great. But if you want to improve as a programmer, it may not be the best (or only) path.

by rphv 3y ago

> "I feel like it's harder to get better at programming if you ask an AI to do the programming for you." In 2023, "Getting betting at programming" means learning how to use an AI.

teekert 3y ago

That's a good phrase "learning how to use an AI", indeed it's not just "using an AI". It's also a process and it involves learning or knowing how to code.

nurettin 3y ago

I think you still have to be pretty good at programming in order to bend a gpt to your will and produce a novel program. That's the current standoff. Might remain this way for a long time.

PeterisP 3y ago
I strongly disagree, I believe that it's likely someone who has never ever programmed would be able to solve multiple advent of code tasks using GPT-[x] models and some copy/pasting and retries, and I'm 100% convinced that a poor programmer (i.e. not "pretty good at programming" but has some knowledge) can do so.
- nurettin 3y ago
  I think it would be entertaining to watch them try. It's going to spit out so many bugs and misunderstandings. Ready the popcorn moment for me.
  - xigoi 3y ago
    If someone actually does that, please link the video here, I would watch that so much…

__loam 3y ago

You still need to be basically literate to understand what you're doing, otherwise you're adding zero value. Making AI tools solve problems for you means you're not learning how to solve those problems. It's especially problematic when you don't have a clue about what you're doing and you just take the AI at its word.

cuddlyogre 3y ago

Offloading the use of your brain to proprietary and legally murky third party services that can deny you access for any reason whatsoever seems shortsided. What happens when you don't have access to these services and you find out you don't actually know how to do most of what you need to do?

teekert 3y ago
Or, get a head start using the murkiness and by the time the AIs are as common as smartphones and run well on local chips, you’re ahead of the pack.
- cuddlyogre 3y ago
  And risk all of your work being owned by some entity you have no hopes of fighting against and being left with nothing to show for but an atrophied brain because you've offloaded all your thinking to a machine that doesn't belong to you and is not able to be audited. What is to stop the owners of these ai systems from denying service to users for trying to make a product that competes with them? Or just straight up taking your work and using it themselves? Why risk it?

nextaccountic 3y ago

Maybe this will be true in 2030, but in 2023 AIs can help you quickly get off the ground in unfamiliar domains but expert knowledge (or just being knowledgeable enough to write code) is still king. That is. If your goal is to quickly get out a prototype that may or may not work (even though you don't understand it very well), using AIs is great. But if you want to improve as a programmer, it may not be the best (or only) path.