[orthecreedence]

I've got one. I'm working on a cryptographic identity system in rust. One of the stricter iterations of it demanded creating a public version and private version of each type. The best way to accomplish this is a procedural macro. I don't know if you've written proc macros by hand in rust. I have, years ago, and it was somewhat torturous. I didn't want to relearn to do it all over again and spend what would have taken weeks (this is a side project) to gain a skill I will easily forget in a month or so. So I had an LLM code it for me. This is a really great use for it: it's not building any strong logic or doing any IO, it's simply writing code that generates other code, and is entirely verifiable and testable. It built it for me so I could spend those weeks working on higher level logic and p2p syncing protocol stuff that actually matters for the project.

I want to make it clear that I'm an LLM luddite. I mostly find the things distasteful and obnoxious. But there are definitely use-cases where they can do what's essentially bitch work and save a lot of time that would otherwise be a waste. It's a tool that can be used for specific things. I don't use them for everything.

[wolvesechoes]

Did it became noticeably better because you used LLM to make a proc macro, therefore freed up you creative and cognitive powers to deliver something much better than you would by writing this macro yourself?

[orthecreedence]

Yes, it did.

[wolvesechoes]

How have you measured it?

[orthecreedence]

I spend a week hand-generating charts and graphs detailing my caloric intake vs creative output in case I needed to convince someone online that my side quest was a success. Are you stupid?

I measured it in time and personal energy. I spend time working on something creative as opposed to working on something procedural. If I'd had to write the macros by hand, it would have sucked a lot of joy out of the project and would have delayed me probably much longer than it would have just to write the macros.

Your line of questioning is obnoxious and indicative that your original suspicions are false, yet you're too pigheaded to just let it go and admit that you are wrong.