[li4ick]

Ok, I'll be the bad guy and say that the linked demo on loom is just not impressive at all. It's just 10x slower than what a simple regex query would've answered. Again, I'll be the bad guy in this comment section, but ML-based search methods for code are just not that useful. They do sound nice for non-coders, that's about it. I also feel like I'm qualified to say this because I have first-hand experience building code search tooling at scale.

[boplicity]

> nice for non-coders, that's about it.

I'm not a coder but I code; not sure if that makes sense. I sort of know a bit of regex, but find it utterly painful and not worth the time.

I'm an amateur, effectively, with little time. I like AI tools for coding, because I can input a request, and get sample code. I know enough to be able to read most of the code that I get back, but not enough to be able to easily write such code on my own.

These types of tools, in my opinion, have the potential to make people like me, and even people who are much less knowledgable than me, productive programmers. This could be transformative.

Sure, we won't be as good or productive as real programmers, but that's beside the point.

In other words, what you're referring to with "that's about it" could still transform quite a few lives.

[euroderf]

> I'm an amateur, effectively, with little time. I like AI tools for coding, because I can input a request, and get sample code.

This sounds kinda like contemporary Chinese text entry. Nobody remembers exactly which strokes in what order, but can feed some parameters into an app and get back candidate characters.

Of course the characters are a simple enumeration, while what you get from a coding-helper app is still a form of electronic hairball and requires a second look, and a third.