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by ModernMech 439 days ago
> Perhaps the solutions(s) needs to be less focusing on output quality, and more on having a solid process for dealing with errors. Think undo, containers, git, CRDTs

LLMs are supposed to save us from the toils of software engineering, but it looks like we're going to reinvent software engineering to make AI useful.

Problem: Programming languages are too hard.

Solution: AI!

Problem: AI is not reliable, it's hard to specify problems precisely so that it understands what I mean unambiguously.

Solution: Programming languages!

2 comments

With pretty much every new technology, society has bent towards the tech too.

When smartphones first popped up, browsing the web on them was a pain. Now pretty much the whole web has phone versions that make it easier*.

*I recognize the folly of stating this on HN.

No it's still a pain.

There's apps that open links in their embedded browser where ads aren't blocked. So I need to copy the link and open them in my real browser.

Or my other favorite trap: an embedded browser where I'm not authenticated. Great, now I have to roll the dice about pasting a password in your "trust me, bro" looking login page because I cannot see the URL and the autofill is all "nope"
> LLMs are supposed to save us from the toils of software engineering

Well, cryptocurrency was supposed to save us from the inefficiences of the centralized banking system.

There's a lesson to be learned here, but alas our sociiety's collective context window is less than five years.