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I am almost convinced your comment is parody but I am not entirely sure. You want proof for critical/supportive criticism? Then almost in the same sentence you

I am almost convinced your comment is parody but I am not entirely sure. You want proof for critical/supportive criticism? Then almost in the same sentence you make an insane claim without backing this up by any evidence.

stavros 1y ago
Well, here's an even more insane claim: I'm infinity times more productive, as I just wouldn't even start projects without the LLM to sidestep my ADHD. Then, when the LLM invariably fucks up, I step in and finish things myself! Here are a few projects that I made these past few months that wouldn't have been possible without LLMs: * https://github.com/skorokithakis/dracula https://github.com/skorokithakis/dracula - A simple blood test viewer. * https://www.askhuxley.com https://www.askhuxley.com - A general helper/secretary/agent. * https://www.writelucid.cc https://www.writelucid.cc - A business document/spec writing tool I'm working on, it asks you questions one at a time, writes a document, then critiques the idea to help you strengthen it. * A rotary phone that's a USB headset and closes your meeting when you hang up the phone, complete with the rotary dial actually typing in numbers. * Made some long-overdue updates on my pastebin, https://www.pastery.net https://www.pastery.net, to improve general functionality. * https://github.com/skorokithakis/support-email-bot https://github.com/skorokithakis/support-email-bot - A customer support bot to answer general questions about my projects to save me time on the easy stuff, works great. * https://github.com/skorokithakis/justone https://github.com/skorokithakis/justone - A static HTML page for the board game Just One, so you can play with your friends when you're physically together, without needing to bring the game along. * https://github.com/skorokithakis/dox https://github.com/skorokithakis/dox - A thing to run Dockerized CLI programs as if they weren't Dockerized. I'm probably forgetting a lot more, but I honestly wouldn't have been bothered to start any of the above if not for LLMs, as I'm too old to code but not too old to make stuff. EDIT: dang can we please get a bit better Markdown support? At least being able to make lists would be good!
- lisbbb 1y ago
  Did you make any money off any of that or was it all just labors of love type of stuff? I'm enjoying woodworking...
  - stavros 1y ago
    This is all my hobby, for my job I use Claude in a way that doesn't involve code, but is still very useful. It's basically what inspired Lucid, above, when I realized I find coming up with solutions very easy, but find explaining them very hard, because I assume the other person knows too much and I don't elaborate enough. LLMs are a great rubber duck, plus they can write the document for you at the end.
- emp17344 1y ago
  > I'm infinity times more productive, as I just wouldn't even start projects without the LLM to sidestep my ADHD. 1 is not infinitely greater than 0.
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - sebastiennight 1y ago
    It... literally is? Or otherwise, can you share what you think the ratio is?
    - deleted 1y ago
      [deleted]
    - emp17344 1y ago
      No, 1 is 1 more than 0. There’s a certain sense in which you could say that 1 is infinitely greater than 0, but only in an abstract, unquantifiable way. In this case, it doesn’t make sense to say you’re “infinitely more productive” because you’re producing something rather than nothing.
      - jama211 1y ago
        I just read it as a turn of phrase that says exactly that, that it means they produce something rather than nothing.
      - stavros 1y ago
        Only if you think that the phrase "two times more productive" is also nonsensical.
      - sebastiennight 1y ago
        It goes like this: "For any positive "x", is 1 x times greater than 0? Well, 0 times x is lower than 1, and 1 divided by x is larger than 0." So his productivity increased by more than twice, more than ten times, more than a billion times, more than a googol times, more than Rayo's number. The only mathematically useful way to quantify it is to say his productivity is infinitely larger. Unless you want to settle for "can't be compared", which is less informative.
- Mathiciann 1y ago
  Well done, some of these projects look cool. Although I was just commenting on the irony of the parent comment.
  - stavros 1y ago
    What was the irony? I thought you were referring to the "3x speed" part as the insane statement.
    - AppleBananaPie 1y ago
      To me it seems like an arbitrary number that I'm not even sure how someone could accurately measure it but maybe I've missed something :)
      - stavros 1y ago
        I took it as a ballpark of how the GP felt, rather than a rigorous measurement.
        GoatInGrey 1y ago
        Which would be ironic as LLM usage has been observed to increase the sensation of productivity even when productivity is measurably reduced. Not to mention the "vibe" component of vibe coding
      - cloverich 1y ago
        It's actually not arbitrary! I measure my PR rate / ticket close rate before and after, which are generally tied to agreed on features / bugs (often user requested / reported ones). I think if it were commit rate or lines of code it would be less meaningful, but at least a (non refactoring) PR should indicate some level of increased user value / bug fix. Sure we could categorize it further and break it down more effectively, I'll not die on the sword of 3x, maybe its 1.5x, maybe its 4x. Neither seems a very meaningful difference when the comparison being discussed is 0x or even -X. The latter I think _most_ of the time is going to be prompt or task related, which is why I think its so important to share and discuss (particularly the negative case!)
- FlyingSnake 1y ago
  > dang can we please get a bit better Markdown support? Great use case for an LLM to make these changes as HN is open source. It’ll also tell us if LLMs can go beyond JS slop.
- steveklabnik 1y ago
  > EDIT hn has no markdown support at all right now. It's just this https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
  - stavros 1y ago
    Hm, well, since we are on a Sonnet thread, I might give it a go.
cloverich 1y ago
> You want proof for critical/supportive criticism? Then almost in the same sentence you make an insane claim without backing this up by any evidence. Nearly every critical reply to my comment bases that criticism on the lack of examples and details I included for my claim which is the very thing I am suggesting we do (i.e. they are, ironically, agreeing with me?). I am sorry I thought that intentional bit of irony would help make the point rather than derail the request.
nenenejej 1y ago
Everyone who wants to talk about claude code raise a Jira ticket with steps to reproduce and please link to that.

stavros 1y ago

Well, here's an even more insane claim: I'm infinity times more productive, as I just wouldn't even start projects without the LLM to sidestep my ADHD. Then, when the LLM invariably fucks up, I step in and finish things myself! Here are a few projects that I made these past few months that wouldn't have been possible without LLMs: * https://github.com/skorokithakis/dracula https://github.com/skorokithakis/dracula - A simple blood test viewer. * https://www.askhuxley.com https://www.askhuxley.com - A general helper/secretary/agent. * https://www.writelucid.cc https://www.writelucid.cc - A business document/spec writing tool I'm working on, it asks you questions one at a time, writes a document, then critiques the idea to help you strengthen it. * A rotary phone that's a USB headset and closes your meeting when you hang up the phone, complete with the rotary dial actually typing in numbers. * Made some long-overdue updates on my pastebin, https://www.pastery.net https://www.pastery.net, to improve general functionality. * https://github.com/skorokithakis/support-email-bot https://github.com/skorokithakis/support-email-bot - A customer support bot to answer general questions about my projects to save me time on the easy stuff, works great. * https://github.com/skorokithakis/justone https://github.com/skorokithakis/justone - A static HTML page for the board game Just One, so you can play with your friends when you're physically together, without needing to bring the game along. * https://github.com/skorokithakis/dox https://github.com/skorokithakis/dox - A thing to run Dockerized CLI programs as if they weren't Dockerized. I'm probably forgetting a lot more, but I honestly wouldn't have been bothered to start any of the above if not for LLMs, as I'm too old to code but not too old to make stuff. EDIT: dang can we please get a bit better Markdown support? At least being able to make lists would be good!

lisbbb 1y ago
Did you make any money off any of that or was it all just labors of love type of stuff? I'm enjoying woodworking...
- stavros 1y ago
  This is all my hobby, for my job I use Claude in a way that doesn't involve code, but is still very useful. It's basically what inspired Lucid, above, when I realized I find coming up with solutions very easy, but find explaining them very hard, because I assume the other person knows too much and I don't elaborate enough. LLMs are a great rubber duck, plus they can write the document for you at the end.
emp17344 1y ago
> I'm infinity times more productive, as I just wouldn't even start projects without the LLM to sidestep my ADHD. 1 is not infinitely greater than 0.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- sebastiennight 1y ago
  It... literally is? Or otherwise, can you share what you think the ratio is?
  - deleted 1y ago
    [deleted]
  - emp17344 1y ago
    No, 1 is 1 more than 0. There’s a certain sense in which you could say that 1 is infinitely greater than 0, but only in an abstract, unquantifiable way. In this case, it doesn’t make sense to say you’re “infinitely more productive” because you’re producing something rather than nothing.
    - jama211 1y ago
      I just read it as a turn of phrase that says exactly that, that it means they produce something rather than nothing.
    - stavros 1y ago
      Only if you think that the phrase "two times more productive" is also nonsensical.
    - sebastiennight 1y ago
      It goes like this: "For any positive "x", is 1 x times greater than 0? Well, 0 times x is lower than 1, and 1 divided by x is larger than 0." So his productivity increased by more than twice, more than ten times, more than a billion times, more than a googol times, more than Rayo's number. The only mathematically useful way to quantify it is to say his productivity is infinitely larger. Unless you want to settle for "can't be compared", which is less informative.
Mathiciann 1y ago
Well done, some of these projects look cool. Although I was just commenting on the irony of the parent comment.
- stavros 1y ago
  What was the irony? I thought you were referring to the "3x speed" part as the insane statement.
  - AppleBananaPie 1y ago
    To me it seems like an arbitrary number that I'm not even sure how someone could accurately measure it but maybe I've missed something :)
    - stavros 1y ago
      I took it as a ballpark of how the GP felt, rather than a rigorous measurement.
      - GoatInGrey 1y ago
        Which would be ironic as LLM usage has been observed to increase the sensation of productivity even when productivity is measurably reduced. Not to mention the "vibe" component of vibe coding
    - cloverich 1y ago
      It's actually not arbitrary! I measure my PR rate / ticket close rate before and after, which are generally tied to agreed on features / bugs (often user requested / reported ones). I think if it were commit rate or lines of code it would be less meaningful, but at least a (non refactoring) PR should indicate some level of increased user value / bug fix. Sure we could categorize it further and break it down more effectively, I'll not die on the sword of 3x, maybe its 1.5x, maybe its 4x. Neither seems a very meaningful difference when the comparison being discussed is 0x or even -X. The latter I think _most_ of the time is going to be prompt or task related, which is why I think its so important to share and discuss (particularly the negative case!)
FlyingSnake 1y ago
> dang can we please get a bit better Markdown support? Great use case for an LLM to make these changes as HN is open source. It’ll also tell us if LLMs can go beyond JS slop.
steveklabnik 1y ago
> EDIT hn has no markdown support at all right now. It's just this https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc
- stavros 1y ago
  Hm, well, since we are on a Sonnet thread, I might give it a go.

cloverich 1y ago

> You want proof for critical/supportive criticism? Then almost in the same sentence you make an insane claim without backing this up by any evidence. Nearly every critical reply to my comment bases that criticism on the lack of examples and details I included for my claim which is the very thing I am suggesting we do (i.e. they are, ironically, agreeing with me?). I am sorry I thought that intentional bit of irony would help make the point rather than derail the request.

nenenejej 1y ago

Everyone who wants to talk about claude code raise a Jira ticket with steps to reproduce and please link to that.