6 ms·

This sounds less like engineering advice and more like spellcasting advice.

by ModernMech 1y ago

dnh44 1y ago
Yeah it is a bit isn't it
tptacek 1y ago
What part of this prompt reads like "spellcasting" to you?
- ModernMech 1y ago
  It's all guesses, heuristics, and folk wisdom.
  - tptacek 1y ago
    Which part? Be specific. They took the trouble to actually give a full prompt.
    - ModernMech 1y ago
      I cite literally the entire thing, specifically lines 1-N. Is there any actual engineering advice in here? Do they cite any hard facts? Any actual science? Real statistics? No. The post can be summarized as: "Here are some things I tried; it seems to work for me", which is astrology-level support.
      - tptacek 1y ago
        Are we talking about the same comment? I'm talking about this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44854637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44854637 ... which, rather than "spellcasting", appears to contain a fairly complete technical description of the system being constructed.
        ModernMech 1y ago
        That's the spell. It's proffered soley because it "compiled and worked on the first try". This only flies as engineering advice in the software world because our version of engineering is "just try this out and see if it works. If it does, ship. Bugs be damned we'll patch them live!", which has resulted in... well I guess acceptance of this current push toward vibe coding.
        tptacek 1y ago
        If you read something like "Modify PlayerServiceActor to subscribe to GameTickEvents and cache latestTick" as spell-casting and not as a pretty boring and straightforward description of a programming task, I think the disconnect between us is that you apparently perceive most of programming as magic. I do not.
        ModernMech 1y ago
        You're strawmanning. If invoking "Modify PlayerServiceActor to subscribe to GameTickEvents and cache latestTick" was enough to get good results, no one would be asking for advice on how to get good results.
        tptacek 1y ago
        You're not even keeping the argument straight. Which is it: is it "spellcasting" to get an LLM to generate a project plan like this, or "spellcasting" when it implements the project plan as written?
        ModernMech 1y ago
        This is pedantic, good day.
        dnh44 1y ago
        I've actually connected Claude Code to XcodeBuildMCP and it will actually run the iOS app in a simulator and test the new code by scrolling and clicking on it. It's pretty cool to watch it find its mistake and fix it. Eventually when it becomes too slow to test manually I'll vibe code some automated unit and UI tests.
      - dnh44 1y ago
        >Do they cite any hard facts? Any actual science? Real statistics? I guess I could do those things, but I'd rather work on my game. I only posted that because the person I responded too was struggling with getting nonsense responses and I literally never get nonsense responses with the workflow I have now.

This sounds less like engineering advice and more like spellcasting advice.

dnh44 1y ago

Yeah it is a bit isn't it

tptacek 1y ago

What part of this prompt reads like "spellcasting" to you?

ModernMech 1y ago
It's all guesses, heuristics, and folk wisdom.
- tptacek 1y ago
  Which part? Be specific. They took the trouble to actually give a full prompt.
  - ModernMech 1y ago
    I cite literally the entire thing, specifically lines 1-N. Is there any actual engineering advice in here? Do they cite any hard facts? Any actual science? Real statistics? No. The post can be summarized as: "Here are some things I tried; it seems to work for me", which is astrology-level support.
    - tptacek 1y ago
      Are we talking about the same comment? I'm talking about this one: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44854637 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44854637 ... which, rather than "spellcasting", appears to contain a fairly complete technical description of the system being constructed.
      - ModernMech 1y ago
        That's the spell. It's proffered soley because it "compiled and worked on the first try". This only flies as engineering advice in the software world because our version of engineering is "just try this out and see if it works. If it does, ship. Bugs be damned we'll patch them live!", which has resulted in... well I guess acceptance of this current push toward vibe coding.
        tptacek 1y ago
        If you read something like "Modify PlayerServiceActor to subscribe to GameTickEvents and cache latestTick" as spell-casting and not as a pretty boring and straightforward description of a programming task, I think the disconnect between us is that you apparently perceive most of programming as magic. I do not.
        ModernMech 1y ago
        You're strawmanning. If invoking "Modify PlayerServiceActor to subscribe to GameTickEvents and cache latestTick" was enough to get good results, no one would be asking for advice on how to get good results.
        tptacek 1y ago
        You're not even keeping the argument straight. Which is it: is it "spellcasting" to get an LLM to generate a project plan like this, or "spellcasting" when it implements the project plan as written?
        ModernMech 1y ago
        This is pedantic, good day.
        dnh44 1y ago
        I've actually connected Claude Code to XcodeBuildMCP and it will actually run the iOS app in a simulator and test the new code by scrolling and clicking on it. It's pretty cool to watch it find its mistake and fix it. Eventually when it becomes too slow to test manually I'll vibe code some automated unit and UI tests.
    - dnh44 1y ago
      >Do they cite any hard facts? Any actual science? Real statistics? I guess I could do those things, but I'd rather work on my game. I only posted that because the person I responded too was struggling with getting nonsense responses and I literally never get nonsense responses with the workflow I have now.