[ed_elliott_asc]

I’ve used it/do use it and it helps to fill out obvious stuff - it didn’t make me much quicker.

The part that takes the longest is working out the tests and what the code should do, the actual internals of the implementation are simple, boring, and obvious.

Automate that and it makes developing even more fun that it is today.

[pydry]

I tend to find if it's that obvious you're probably already using a library.

Or, if you're not, you should be.

But, if copilot instead suggests just writing out the contents of the library directly into your code base a lot of people will do just that. That'll be lots of fun when you're trying to track down obscure bugs in huge piles of murky "copilot assisted" code.

It'll be especially bad in environments where developers feel either extrinsic or intrinsic pressure to always write more SLOC and churn out more PRs because it will allow developers to create a very compelling illusion of productivity.

I have a feeling this will be one of the long term side effects of copilot. I'm actually suspicious that this dynamic will blow away all of the productivity gains and then some and might lead to companies banning its use when they realize the true costs of sifting through the GPT spew.

[ed_elliott_asc]

I think we are using “obvious” in a different way, I mean like if I want to write an if statement or something that is easy to write, it does it for me.

[pydry]

Writing an if statement takes a couple of seconds anyway though, doesnt it?

[stepbeek]

I run through this point with other developers a lot. There are hard technical problems out there but a great deal of difficulty in programming is in reasoning about a domain. If Copilot is good enough that it can solve problems in any domain, is it close enough to AGI that we can call it a day?