3 ms·

This seems like an interesting time to post this. With the rise of LLMs, Software development has changed more in the last two years than at any time I can prev

by edanm 2y ago

This seems like an interesting time to post this. With the rise of LLMs, Software development has changed more in the last two years than at any time I can previously recall. And I strongly suspect that's just the beginning. I believe we'll soon be looking for "the joy of programming" in a totally different way, far more outcome-oriented than it is today. (Which is, in my book, a good thing!)

layer8 2y ago
I mean, you’re the CEO of an AI company.
- edanm 2y ago
  Umm, yeah, so? What is the implication of this comment supposed to be?
  - SaucyWrong 2y ago
    The implication is that you’re fronting. It’s fine, I’m a technical founder of an AI company. The business demands that what you say is true. But for me, and many others, the joy of programming is in doing the programming. There is not a more outcome-driven modality that can bring us joy. And we either reject the premise or are grieving that it might eventually be true.
    - edanm 2y ago
      I've been a software dev for 27 years, professionally for 21 years. This idea is getting the causality arrows backwards. I'm not talking up AI because I'm in AI - I'm in AI because I believe it is revolutionary. I've been involved in more fields than most software devs, I believe, from embedded programming to 3d to data to (now) AI - and the shift towards Data & AI has been an intentional transition to what I consider most important. I have the great fortune of working in what I consider the most important field today. > But for me, and many others, the joy of programming is in doing the programming. There is not a more outcome-driven modality that can bring us joy. And we either reject the premise or are grieving that it might eventually be true. This is an interesting sentiment. I certainly share it to some extent, though as I've evolved over the years, I've chosen, somewhat on purpose, to focus more on outcomes than on the programming itself. Or at least, the low-level programming. I'm actually pretty glad that I can focus on big picture nowadays - "what do I want to actually achieve" vs "how do I want to achieve it", which is still super technical btw, and let LLMs fill in the details (to the extent that they can). Everyone can enjoy what they want, but learning how to use this year's favorite library for "get back an HTML source from a url and parse it" or "display a UI that lets a user pick a date" is not particularly interesting or challenging for me; those are details that I'd just as soon avoid. I prefer to focus on big picture stuff like "what is this function/class/file/whatever suppoed to be doing, what are the steps it should take", etc.

by edanm 2y ago

layer8 2y ago

I mean, you’re the CEO of an AI company.

edanm 2y ago
Umm, yeah, so? What is the implication of this comment supposed to be?
- SaucyWrong 2y ago
  The implication is that you’re fronting. It’s fine, I’m a technical founder of an AI company. The business demands that what you say is true. But for me, and many others, the joy of programming is in doing the programming. There is not a more outcome-driven modality that can bring us joy. And we either reject the premise or are grieving that it might eventually be true.
  - edanm 2y ago
    I've been a software dev for 27 years, professionally for 21 years. This idea is getting the causality arrows backwards. I'm not talking up AI because I'm in AI - I'm in AI because I believe it is revolutionary. I've been involved in more fields than most software devs, I believe, from embedded programming to 3d to data to (now) AI - and the shift towards Data & AI has been an intentional transition to what I consider most important. I have the great fortune of working in what I consider the most important field today. > But for me, and many others, the joy of programming is in doing the programming. There is not a more outcome-driven modality that can bring us joy. And we either reject the premise or are grieving that it might eventually be true. This is an interesting sentiment. I certainly share it to some extent, though as I've evolved over the years, I've chosen, somewhat on purpose, to focus more on outcomes than on the programming itself. Or at least, the low-level programming. I'm actually pretty glad that I can focus on big picture nowadays - "what do I want to actually achieve" vs "how do I want to achieve it", which is still super technical btw, and let LLMs fill in the details (to the extent that they can). Everyone can enjoy what they want, but learning how to use this year's favorite library for "get back an HTML source from a url and parse it" or "display a UI that lets a user pick a date" is not particularly interesting or challenging for me; those are details that I'd just as soon avoid. I prefer to focus on big picture stuff like "what is this function/class/file/whatever suppoed to be doing, what are the steps it should take", etc.