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Depends on the code, but often yes. The less you care about that specific result, the more efficient it is. One-off tools under 2k lines where you can easily ve
by viraptor 1y ago
Depends on the code, but often yes. The less you care about that specific result, the more efficient it is. One-off tools under 2k lines where you can easily verify the result? Why would I not generate that and save time for more interesting stuff?
- layer8 1y agoOne-off tools seem to be more ops then dev, to me.
- jiggawatts 1y agoI’ve used Gemini Pro 2.5 to generate code syntax rewrite tools from me. I asked it to use a compiler SDK that I know from experience is fiddly and frustrating to use. It gave me a working tool in about 10 minutes, while I was actively listening to a meeting. Not all scripts are “ops”!
- viraptor 1y agoI haven't heard the "scripting is not programming" or similar take since newsgroups. It's really time to let it die.
- layer8 1y agoThat’s not what I wrote. It’s just that in my dev work I only rarely have the need for one-off tools.
- sagarm 1y agoDo you not debug, optimize, analyze ...? Copilot is especially valuable for throwaway (or nearly throwaway) log parsing/analysis, for example.
- layer8 1y agoI do, but I have all the software I need for that. I may use LLMs in that context, but for the actual analysis, not for generating one-off tools.
- BeetleB 1y agoThat used to be the case with me too before LLMs. It was because writing one off tools took time and you needed it to do more for it to be worth the time. Now a lot more are getting written because it takes a lot less effort. :-)
- viraptor 1y agoIt just depends on the environment. Some areas get to experiment with different approaches more than others. On one extreme if I was writing yet another crud app, it's unlikely is need any such tools. On the other, when dealing with data processing/visualisation/ml, it's small experimental tools all over the place.
- Lalabadie 1y agoOne of my pet hypotheses is that the top X% of Excel users vastly outperform the same bottom % of programmers in getting to usable results.
- fenomas 1y agoTotally agree! I know a guy whose main job is basically to be an Excel expert (nominally he works in logistics), and seeing some of his work convinced me that he's actually a programmer who uses excel as an IDE - akin to visual programming.
- callc 1y agoWe should adopt the term “tabular programmers” or “tabular engineers”!
- airstrike 1y agoMore like it's time to bring it back...
- enos_feedler 1y agoWhat if every piece of software any consumer needed could be described this way? Outside of system code this could be everything we ever need. This world is nearly upon us and it is super exciting.