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by bentt 16 days ago
This is a good example of where it’s important to be more up front about the role of AI in the making of a thing.

Making a language that compiles through LLVM is no small task and takes a lot of expertise. Most of the time people do it because they have a point of view and are highly technical.

Making a joke language via AI is an entirely different exercise. Not without value but not the same, especially when evaluating what it means about the author.

3 comments

I made a “fully” functioning programming language that is kind of like Rebol on luajit using Claude code - and I haven’t really done much serious programming since college 20 years ago. It’s fun though.
I built a language this way using AI but with a strong technical POV, and I’ve been working on it for more than 4 months. It’s been a lot of work reading papers, testing ideas, and fitting it all together. Fortunately clause saves me from having to learn C well.

Building a package manager has been a lot more difficult than I had expected.

> This is a good example of where it’s important to be more up front about the role of AI in the making of a thing.

Maybe, but we don’t always discuss our tool stack before showing our work because a lot of times it’s assumed or not interesting. AI is a tool, it’s a lever that you push on to multiply your effort. The product of your effort speaks for itself, as it always has.