[ShamelessC]

> I'm now imagining a very frustrated junior developer a few years from now trying to argue with Copilot to write code for a classifier for chemical compounds, but it just spits out code for classifying text.

So just the future version of a junior developer not knowing how to use their tools? Yeah, that scans. Still sounds incredibly useful however. The alternative is, of course, a junior developer fumbling as they try to write said program entirely from their learned skills and experience.

[dgb23]

That’s a very important thing to experience.

There’s not always a quick fix or easy path. You can’t always patch existing stuff together or just wait until the problem goes away.

And when a tool helps you too much, then is there really a point in what you’re doing? It’s not even a learning experience anymore.

[ShamelessC]

> And when a tool helps you too much, then is there really a point in what you’re doing? It’s not even a learning experience anymore.

Have you seen the documentary about AlphaGo? After watching it, and seeing Lee Sedol just utterly devastated by losing to a computer, I felt like I too would surely feel the same thing in my life. I mean, surely Lee Sedol is a far more skilled Go player than I am a skilled programmer.

Anyway, sorry for the rambling. I agree - it's deeply important to _actually_ learn how things work. That's why I wouldn't recommend copilot to a junior dev. Unfortunately, the way things are going - those junior developers are going to use it anyways and I tend to be more of a realist than an idealist.

[dgb23]

That’s what computers and copilot are good for. Finding solutions for well defined problems based on data we feed them. They can’t for example design a novel and interesting video game, or build a bespoke tool for an SME.