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It has been really interesting to see how non-technical people use agents. My girlfriend shipped a full-stack on the app store [1]. She was only familiar with b

It has been really interesting to see how non-technical people use agents. My girlfriend shipped a full-stack on the app store [1]. She was only familiar with basic HTML. Now she's building out an inspiration tracker that has file uploads, weekly todos, search, categories. There's a lot more ideas and people who would love to put in effort to give to the world, then there are expert programmers to build them. [1] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/go-deeper/id6745434359 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/go-deeper/id6745434359

stillpointlab 1y ago
Congrats to your girlfriend! Actually shipping their own app is a feat that many programmers never achieve, instead spending their entire lives working on projects for others. I'm going to jump on this to think aloud about the unlock this ability gives the world for customized apps. My neighbor is a landscaper and he is constantly complaining to me about invoicing software. He has gone through 10+ apps trying to find one that fits his particular set of requirements. He was telling me recently that he spent several phone calls with a developer who had shipped an iOS app that was close to what he needed trying to explain what he wanted. He knows I am a programmer and is always hinting that I should develop an app that would meet his requirements. But I know better. Invoicing/scheduling software is really difficult, especially to appeal to everyone. Each small business has so many tiny requirements that are specific to their business and their personality. You can't just have one piece of software that appeals to everyone, that meets all of the requirements, without it becoming bloated and complicated. And if I built to his particular requirements, I would have exactly 1 customer, which isn't sustainable as a business (I mean, he wants to pay ~20/month). But now we have a world where that kind of highly customized software will be possible. As more and more LLM-ready building blocks emerge, custom software may become the norm rather than the exception.
- stopachka 1y ago
  > As more and more LLM-ready building blocks emerge, custom software may become the norm rather than the exception. Heck yeah. This would be a very cool world to live in.
mieubrisse 1y ago
I'm super into this idea. Programmers (us) used to be gatekeepers... and that's less true now. It means my salary goes down, but also means that the world is going to build more, cooler stuff quicker.
- stopachka 1y ago
  > the world is going to build more, cooler stuff quicker. Absolutely > It means my salary goes down We may find ourselves surprised. It's true that some part of our skills will no longer be valuable, but I wouldn't be surprised if other parts became 10x more valuable.

stillpointlab 1y ago

Congrats to your girlfriend! Actually shipping their own app is a feat that many programmers never achieve, instead spending their entire lives working on projects for others. I'm going to jump on this to think aloud about the unlock this ability gives the world for customized apps. My neighbor is a landscaper and he is constantly complaining to me about invoicing software. He has gone through 10+ apps trying to find one that fits his particular set of requirements. He was telling me recently that he spent several phone calls with a developer who had shipped an iOS app that was close to what he needed trying to explain what he wanted. He knows I am a programmer and is always hinting that I should develop an app that would meet his requirements. But I know better. Invoicing/scheduling software is really difficult, especially to appeal to everyone. Each small business has so many tiny requirements that are specific to their business and their personality. You can't just have one piece of software that appeals to everyone, that meets all of the requirements, without it becoming bloated and complicated. And if I built to his particular requirements, I would have exactly 1 customer, which isn't sustainable as a business (I mean, he wants to pay ~20/month). But now we have a world where that kind of highly customized software will be possible. As more and more LLM-ready building blocks emerge, custom software may become the norm rather than the exception.

stopachka 1y ago
> As more and more LLM-ready building blocks emerge, custom software may become the norm rather than the exception. Heck yeah. This would be a very cool world to live in.

mieubrisse 1y ago

I'm super into this idea. Programmers (us) used to be gatekeepers... and that's less true now. It means my salary goes down, but also means that the world is going to build more, cooler stuff quicker.

stopachka 1y ago
> the world is going to build more, cooler stuff quicker. Absolutely > It means my salary goes down We may find ourselves surprised. It's true that some part of our skills will no longer be valuable, but I wouldn't be surprised if other parts became 10x more valuable.