[jncfhnb]

For stuff that I’m good at? Not even 10%.

For stuff that I’m bad at? Probably more than 1000%. I’ve used it to make a web app, write some shader code, and set up some rtc streaming from unreal engine to the browser. I doubt I would have done them at all otherwise tbh. I just don’t have the energy and interest to conclude that those particular ventures were good uses of my time.

[dboon]

Yeah I couldn't put it better myself. It's obscene how much more productive you become in new domains. And sure, you eventually hit a wall where you gotta understand it for real. But now you have a working example of your project, plus a genius who will answer unlimited questions and clarifications.

And you can do this for anything

[globular-toast]

> And you can do this for anything

Anything that's been done before. Otherwise we'd probably start with making nuclear fusion work, then head off into the stars...

You've always been able to read books. What you're talking about is skipping the slow learning step and instead generating a mashup of tons of prior art. I don't think it helps you learn. It sounds like it's for things you specifically don't want to learn.

Congrats, you now have a job similar to a factory worker turning a handle every day. Gone is that feeling of growth, that feeling of "getting it" and seeing new realms of possibility in front of you. Now all you can do is beg for more grease on your handle.

[jncfhnb]

Nah. We’re literally on “hacker news”. Frankly a lot of the hacking ethos has always been cobbling stuff together building upon the works of others that you don’t really understand.

Learning by getting something to work and tweaking it is massively more effective than grinding against a wall of impassable errors while you’re just trying to get started. You don’t become a good programmer by reading a book.

[anabis]

Yeah, its like a GPS navigation system. Useless and annoying in home turf. Invaluable in unfamiliar territory.

[km144]

Maybe it that's an apt analogy in more ways than one, given the recent research out of MIT on AI's impact on the brain, and previous findings about GPS use deteriorating navigation skills:

> The narrative synthesis presented negative associations between GPS use and performance in environmental knowledge and self-reported sense of direction measures and a positive association with wayfinding. When considering quantitative data, results revealed a negative effect of GPS use on environmental knowledge (r = −.18 [95% CI: −.28, −.08]) and sense of direction (r = −.25 [95% CI: −.39, −.12]) and a positive yet not significant effect on wayfinding (r = .07 [95% CI: −.28, .41]).

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027249442...

Keeping the analogy going: I'm worried we will soon have a world of developers who need GPS to drive literally anywhere.

[jncfhnb]

I’m navigationally clueless but I don’t drive professionally