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> LLMs are almost perfect for this. It's generally faster than me looking up syntax/documentation, when it's wrong it's easy to tell and correct. Exactly this.

> LLMs are almost perfect for this. It's generally faster than me looking up syntax/documentation, when it's wrong it's easy to tell and correct. Exactly this. I once had a function that would generate several .csv reports. I wanted these reports to then be uploaded to s3://my_bucket/reports/{timestamp}/.csv I asked ChatGPT "Write a function that moves all .csv files in the current directory to and old_reports directory, calls a create_reports function, then uploads all the csv files in the current directory to s3://my_bucket/reports/{timestamp}/.csv with the timestamp in YYYY-MM-DD format"" And it created the code perfectly. I knew what the correct code would look like, I just couldn't be fucked to look up the exact calls to boto3, whether moving files was os.move or os.rename or something from shutil, and the exact way to format a datetime object. It created the code far faster that I would have. Like, I certainly wouldn't use it to write a whole app, or even a whole class, but individual blocks like this, it's great.

simonw 2y ago
I've had so many cases exactly like your example here. If you build up an intuition that knows that e.g. Claude 3.7 Sonnet can write code that uses boto3, and boto3 hasn't had any breaking changes that would affect S3 usage in the past ~24 months, you can jump straight into a prompt for this kind of task. It doesn't just save me a ton of time, it results in me building automations that I normally wouldn't have taken on at all because the time spent fiddling with os.move/boto3/etc wouldn't have been worthwhile compared to other things on my plate.
taberiand 2y ago
I have been saying this about llms for a while - if you know what you want, how to ask for it, and what the correct output will look like, LLMs are fantastic (at least Claude Sonnet is). And I mean that seriously, they are a highly effective tool for productive development for senior developers. I use it to produce whole classes, large sql queries, terraform scripts, etc etc. I then look over that output, iterate on it, adjust it to my needs. It's never exactly right at first, but that's fine - neither is code I write from scratch. It's still a massive time saver.
- selcuka 2y ago
  > they are a highly effective tool for productive development for senior developers I think this is the most important bit many people miss. It is advertised as an autonomous software developer, or something that can take a junior to senior levels, but that's just advertising. It is actually most useful for senior developers, as it does the grunt work for them, while grunt work is actually useful work for a junior developer as a learning tool.
  - jjani 2y ago
    > It is advertised as an autonomous software developer By a few currently niche VC players, I guess. I don't see Anthropic, the overwhelming revenue leader in dollars spent on LLM-related tools for SWE, claiming that.
    - selcuka 2y ago
      > I don't see Anthropic, the overwhelming revenue leader in dollars spent on LLM-related tools for SWE, claiming that. Are you sure about that? [1]: > "I think we will be there in three to six months, where AI is writing 90% of the code. And then, in 12 months, we may be in a world where AI is writing essentially all of the code," Amodei said at a Council of Foreign Relations event on Monday. [1] https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/anthropic-ceo-predicts-ai-will-take-over-coding-in-12-months/488533 https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/anthropic-ceo-pre...
    - djtango 2y ago
      This depends on the circles you move in. I have capital allocator friends warning me about vibe coding taking my job
  - btbuildem 2y ago
    Precisely -- you have to be experienced in your field to use these tools effectively. These are power tools for the mind. We've been working with the equivalent of hand tools, now something new came along. And yeah, a hole hawg will throw you clear off a ladder if you're not careful -- does that mean you're going to bore 6" holes in concrete ceilings by hand? Think not.

simonw 2y ago

I've had so many cases exactly like your example here. If you build up an intuition that knows that e.g. Claude 3.7 Sonnet can write code that uses boto3, and boto3 hasn't had any breaking changes that would affect S3 usage in the past ~24 months, you can jump straight into a prompt for this kind of task. It doesn't just save me a ton of time, it results in me building automations that I normally wouldn't have taken on at all because the time spent fiddling with os.move/boto3/etc wouldn't have been worthwhile compared to other things on my plate.

taberiand 2y ago

I have been saying this about llms for a while - if you know what you want, how to ask for it, and what the correct output will look like, LLMs are fantastic (at least Claude Sonnet is). And I mean that seriously, they are a highly effective tool for productive development for senior developers. I use it to produce whole classes, large sql queries, terraform scripts, etc etc. I then look over that output, iterate on it, adjust it to my needs. It's never exactly right at first, but that's fine - neither is code I write from scratch. It's still a massive time saver.

selcuka 2y ago
> they are a highly effective tool for productive development for senior developers I think this is the most important bit many people miss. It is advertised as an autonomous software developer, or something that can take a junior to senior levels, but that's just advertising. It is actually most useful for senior developers, as it does the grunt work for them, while grunt work is actually useful work for a junior developer as a learning tool.
- jjani 2y ago
  > It is advertised as an autonomous software developer By a few currently niche VC players, I guess. I don't see Anthropic, the overwhelming revenue leader in dollars spent on LLM-related tools for SWE, claiming that.
  - selcuka 2y ago
    > I don't see Anthropic, the overwhelming revenue leader in dollars spent on LLM-related tools for SWE, claiming that. Are you sure about that? [1]: > "I think we will be there in three to six months, where AI is writing 90% of the code. And then, in 12 months, we may be in a world where AI is writing essentially all of the code," Amodei said at a Council of Foreign Relations event on Monday. [1] https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/anthropic-ceo-predicts-ai-will-take-over-coding-in-12-months/488533 https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/anthropic-ceo-pre...
  - djtango 2y ago
    This depends on the circles you move in. I have capital allocator friends warning me about vibe coding taking my job
- btbuildem 2y ago
  Precisely -- you have to be experienced in your field to use these tools effectively. These are power tools for the mind. We've been working with the equivalent of hand tools, now something new came along. And yeah, a hole hawg will throw you clear off a ladder if you're not careful -- does that mean you're going to bore 6" holes in concrete ceilings by hand? Think not.