SKILNER

8 ms·

1.
by SKILNER 3mo ago
Thanks for providing some actual facts.
2.
by SKILNER 4mo ago
So many people flailing around to justify their feelings rather than thinking rationally.
3.
by SKILNER 4mo ago
It is time to give up arguments without evidence.
4.
by SKILNER 5mo ago
Disappointing - not a very insightful list
5.
by SKILNER 7mo ago
If you've ever undertaken the task of documenting entire workflows, then you know that you quickly put up the white flag at the word "entire". When you actually talk to people about what they do there are often many, many nua
6.
by SKILNER 9mo ago
This strikes me as a very solid methodology for improving the results of all AI coding tools. I hope Anthropic, etc take this up. Rather than converging on optimal code (Occam's Razor for both maintainability and performance) they are
7.
by SKILNER 1y ago
"According to the study, AI still struggles with several crucial facets of coding: sweeping scopes involving huge codebases, the extended context lengths of millions of lines of code, higher levels of logical complexity, and long-horiz
8.
by SKILNER 1y ago
>> It reeks of cope. haha, well said, I've got to remember that one. HN is a smelly place when it comes to AI coping.
9.
by SKILNER 1y ago
That's an excellent job of teaching - thank you!
10.
by SKILNER 1y ago
You get to keep your job instead of being replaced by someone willing to use the latest tools.
11.
by SKILNER 1y ago
It's a good idea to think of a converse situation, but this is a bad example. The constraint was not about technology but about budget, perceived benefits and political will.
12.
by SKILNER 1y ago
Let's just imagine we're critiquing cars or planes in about 1910. They're so flawed. No one can say with certainty whether or how they will improve. Side note of interest, from Wikipedia: "Flying Machines Which Do Not Fl
13.
by SKILNER 1y ago
There's a lot of resistance to AI amongst the people in this discussion, which is probably to be expected. A chunk of the objections indicate people trying to shoehorn in their old way of thinking and working. I think you have to expe
14.
by SKILNER 1y ago
Is the UX of the name any indication of the UX of the product?
15.
by SKILNER 2y ago
I think this was more comprehensively described by The (Eight) Laws of Software Evolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lehman%27s_laws_of_software_ev... This subject always reminds me of something someone said, possi
16.
by SKILNER 2y ago
Great idea, thanks for doing this. But - why is the most important information, the title, in such a light, hard to read, font? The title should stand out, not the comments count etc. See... Hackernews! :-)
17.
by SKILNER 3y ago
I don't understand the glee so many people have over this. I love being able to use Generative AI tools. How is it different than if I asked a person to draw these pictures for me? I know someone will gleefully clobber this question wi
18.
by SKILNER 3y ago
I gave a presentation many years ago to a software process group in Silicon Valley entitled, "Unsolved Problems of Software Maintenance". The problems are all still there. Having done lots of both greenfield and maintenance work o
19.
by SKILNER 3y ago
That's an awesome site. What tools did you use?
20.
by SKILNER 4y ago
What this completely overlooks is the time developers spend trying to understand existing code. For greenfield development that is close to zero. For maintenance work it is over half of their time and arguably the most difficult work in sof
21.
by SKILNER 4y ago
Gray goo - "Self-replicating nanobots are going to cover the world in gray goo." This was the prediction about nanotechnology that has so far not come to pass. However, these generative AI tools are surely on the path to cover our
22.
by SKILNER 4y ago
> pearl clutching Says it all
23.
by SKILNER 4y ago
Haha, me too, I read that sentence and closed the tab.
24.
by SKILNER 4y ago
Headline: Too many Americans living where they choose to live.
25.
by SKILNER 4y ago
"It's so crowded no one goes there any more." Attributed to old baseball player, Yogi Berra. I.e., Too many Americans living where they choose to live.
26.
by SKILNER 4y ago
I developed a dynamic analysis/IDE tool for old IBM systems. I was told by VC's that IT management never spends significant money on programmer productivity. I think they're mostly right. Maybe because no one knows how to act
27.
by SKILNER 4y ago
Great post - the one word missing, "maintenance." Most programming work is done maintaining/enhancing existing code. The greenfield work is a piece of cake by comparison. You want to do the hard stuff? Maintain existing code
28.
by SKILNER 4y ago
I think the author is identifying problems. Problems most people just take for granted. I give the author credit for that.
29.
by SKILNER 4y ago
Regular people have their regular jobs to do. They want to use tools, not build them. I'm all into PowerApps and all that, but no-code for anything the least bit sizable or complex is a fantasy from citizen developers.
30.
by SKILNER 4y ago
Someone else mentioned Strunk and White's Elements of Style, but in the true spirit of that book let me just cut to the chase and say, "omit needless words." Our brains only have so much space in them so you only get to cram

More ›