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How does ML help in that regard? I don't understand exactly what you're saying by "ML software". How does the regular user specify what he wants? By writing it

How does ML help in that regard? I don't understand exactly what you're saying by "ML software". How does the regular user specify what he wants? By writing it in plain English with all its ambiguities, turning the "ML software" into a very fuzzy compiler that constantly tries to guess your intentions? Through some GUI or visual programming language, like we've had for decades but which have yet to cause a shortage of programming jobs? We've been automating programming since the very beginning, moving from machine language to assembly to high-level languages to using libraries and frameworks (although making different libraries cooperate is sometimes just as labor-intensive as writing the functionality from scratch).

ellius 9y ago
I've seen comments like his and I really don't know if I'm just ignorant or if the other guy is talking out of his ass. I see no way that machine learning as it currently exists could possibly perform the work of coders or any other human function that involves ambiguity and shifting requirements.
- bitL 9y ago
  Depends on the level of standardization of "building blocks" in a given industry where software is needed. Most software engineers nowadays spend time mimicking what others posted on Stack Overflow and just gluing together different modules with not much thinking. There is a lot of opportunity to unleash ML there. One example - imagine you need to convert data from one supplier to another one's format. ML can identify which data columns looks similar and propose a conversion between schemes to an engineer, engineer just needs to approve it and make small changes if necessary. Algorithm then can learn from the adjustments and make them automatically in the future. As a consequence, you might not need to employ 3 people doing that, but only 1. So you won't get rid of humans completely, but boosting up one's capabilities by augmenting intelligence allows you to save cost and time. Next big thing is identifying which of these processes can be standardized and automated away in development. The pressure coming to rank-and-file developer will be substantial, given internal prototypes I've seen already.

ellius 9y ago

I've seen comments like his and I really don't know if I'm just ignorant or if the other guy is talking out of his ass. I see no way that machine learning as it currently exists could possibly perform the work of coders or any other human function that involves ambiguity and shifting requirements.

bitL 9y ago
Depends on the level of standardization of "building blocks" in a given industry where software is needed. Most software engineers nowadays spend time mimicking what others posted on Stack Overflow and just gluing together different modules with not much thinking. There is a lot of opportunity to unleash ML there. One example - imagine you need to convert data from one supplier to another one's format. ML can identify which data columns looks similar and propose a conversion between schemes to an engineer, engineer just needs to approve it and make small changes if necessary. Algorithm then can learn from the adjustments and make them automatically in the future. As a consequence, you might not need to employ 3 people doing that, but only 1. So you won't get rid of humans completely, but boosting up one's capabilities by augmenting intelligence allows you to save cost and time. Next big thing is identifying which of these processes can be standardized and automated away in development. The pressure coming to rank-and-file developer will be substantial, given internal prototypes I've seen already.