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by perhapsAnLLM 176 days ago
"they are completely useless for real programming"

You and I must have completely different definitions of "real programming". In this very comment, you described a problem that the model solved. The solution may not have involved low-level programming, or discovering a tricky bug entrenched in years-worth of legacy code, but still a legitimate task that you, as a programmer, would've needed to solve otherwise. How is that not "real programming"?
2 comments
re_chief 176 days ago
I wouldn't describe the LLM's actions in the example as "solving a problem" so much as "following a well-established routine". If I were to, for instance, make a PB&J sandwich, I wouldn't say that what I'm doing is "real cooking" even if it might technically fit the definition.

If an LLM controlling a pair of robot hands was able to make a passable PB&J sandwich on my behalf, I _guess_ that could be useful to me (how much time am I really saving? is it worth the cost? etc.), but that's very different from those same robo-hands filling the role of a chef de cuisine at a fine dining restaurant, or even a cook at a diner.

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theshrike79 176 days ago
In this analogy you're clearly a private chef with clients who have very specific wishes and allergies.

The rest of us are just pumping out CRUD-burgers off the API assembly line. Not exactly groundbreaking stuff.

LLMs are really good with burgers, but not so much being a private chef.

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sarchertech 176 days ago
Every useful CRUD app becomes its own special snowflake with time and users.

Now if your CRUD app never gets any users sure it stays generic. But we’ve had low code solutions that solve this problem for decades.

LLMs are good at stuff that probably should have been low code in the first place, but couldn’t be for reasons. That’s useful, but it comes with a ton of trade offs. And these kind of solutions covet a lot less ground than you’d think.

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theshrike79 175 days ago
I'm old enough to remember the "OMG low-code is going to take our jeeeerbbs!" panic :D

Like LLMs they took away a _very_ specific segment of software, Zapier, n8n, NodeRED etc. do some things in a way that bespoke apps can't - but they also hit a massive hard wall where you either need to do some really janky shit or just break out Actual Code to get forward.

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nuancebydefault 175 days ago
"real programming" hits a "true scottsman" snare with me.
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