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yes. LLMs are great at giving a template or code block for specific usecase and then I use it after understanding, modifying (if needed) and testing it. I am no

yes. LLMs are great at giving a template or code block for specific usecase and then I use it after understanding, modifying (if needed) and testing it. I am not sure about ChatGPT but Gemini Advanced even allows modifying code and running it within the answer itself which is convenient to test out minor changes. Also, getting template of 100s of LOC saves time in writing it from scratch even if I know exactly what I'd need to write.

chrisjj 2y ago
> LLMs are great at giving a template or code block for specific use case and then I use it after understanding, I suspect the typical ChatGPT user is using it for code that's beyond his ability to write. That being the whole point of his using it. It follows that such code is likely beyond his ability to understand. But worse, beyond his ability to understand he doesn't understand it.
- Brian_K_White 2y ago
  I can read and modify all kinds of code I couldn't write in the first place. I haven't used any llm for code yet but most code I ever touched was mostly written by others, and I wouldn't have been able to write it from scratch, but was able to modify it, take only chunks out of the whole to use for something else, take only the structure and not the verbatim code and use in some other language, refactor to satisfy my own priorities vs the original, get useful results in languages I don't even know, etc etc. It doesn't seem like using some pattern-matched uber-autocorrect code would be much different, especially once you understand that understandingless nature of what your getting.
repelsteeltje 2y ago
> Also, getting template of 100s of LOC saves time in writing it from scratch even if I know exactly what I'd need to write. I rarely know exactly what I need to write and writing it usually isn't the problem. Sans LLM, there have always been tools and techniques you can lean on, like syntax highlighting, auto completion, your compiler feedback, or unit tests. I find that writing code consumes only a small percentage of my time. And while writing code is obviously where bugs originate, it's not where the big problems come from. Making software good is the easy part, making the right software is where the trouble lies. It's why I spend most time not coding, but talking to people. Figuring out what needs to be done, how, when and why.

chrisjj 2y ago

> LLMs are great at giving a template or code block for specific use case and then I use it after understanding, I suspect the typical ChatGPT user is using it for code that's beyond his ability to write. That being the whole point of his using it. It follows that such code is likely beyond his ability to understand. But worse, beyond his ability to understand he doesn't understand it.

Brian_K_White 2y ago
I can read and modify all kinds of code I couldn't write in the first place. I haven't used any llm for code yet but most code I ever touched was mostly written by others, and I wouldn't have been able to write it from scratch, but was able to modify it, take only chunks out of the whole to use for something else, take only the structure and not the verbatim code and use in some other language, refactor to satisfy my own priorities vs the original, get useful results in languages I don't even know, etc etc. It doesn't seem like using some pattern-matched uber-autocorrect code would be much different, especially once you understand that understandingless nature of what your getting.

repelsteeltje 2y ago

> Also, getting template of 100s of LOC saves time in writing it from scratch even if I know exactly what I'd need to write. I rarely know exactly what I need to write and writing it usually isn't the problem. Sans LLM, there have always been tools and techniques you can lean on, like syntax highlighting, auto completion, your compiler feedback, or unit tests. I find that writing code consumes only a small percentage of my time. And while writing code is obviously where bugs originate, it's not where the big problems come from. Making software good is the easy part, making the right software is where the trouble lies. It's why I spend most time not coding, but talking to people. Figuring out what needs to be done, how, when and why.