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Even back in the day you had to buy programming books and courses if you wanted to learn how to make the best code. That wasn't free. It's really not all that d
by tnelsond4 6mo ago
Even back in the day you had to buy programming books and courses if you wanted to learn how to make the best code. That wasn't free. It's really not all that different from LLMs, you can code without them, but they're a good resource to help you when you're stuck. There's a billion free LLMs you can use, Grok, duck.ai, etc. you don't need money or a subscription to vibe code.
- purplesyringa 6mo agoYou can still write code without LLMs, much like you can write code without modern IDEs, or use C and assembly instead of higher-level languages. But there are significant differences between the skills you learn in the process, which I believe inhibits upward mobility.
- tincholio 6mo agoWell, way back in the day, dev tools weren't free, either, for the most part.
- WalterBright 6mo agoIn the 80s, a good compiler would cost several hundred dollars. Relentless competition pushed the prices down to zero.
- bombcar 6mo agoThere are those who started playing with computers when compilers were often more expensive than the computer they ran on, and those who came after you could download an entire "Unix" system and toolchain for free. Entire industries and massive companies existed for tools and tooling that is now considered free and table-stakes. Heck, an operating system used to cost money and didn't come with much at all!
- WalterBright 6mo agoPC-DOS started out at $40. Since the IBM PC cost about $3000, the $40 was more or less free.
- jimbokun 6mo agoAlong with distribution costs for information going to near zero.
- compass_copium 6mo agoThis is directly addressed by the author and part of the post? Tools were very expensive until gcc etc., and the internet made excellent free guides available.
- walljm 6mo agoand there are free models available. and free ways to run them...
- mghackerlady 6mo agothey also addressed this and talked about how competitive models can't run on the weaker hardware most people have
- AndrewKemendo 6mo agoAnd prior to the desktop computer, you had to actually go work at a laboratory in order to do any programming whatsoever, which required significant amounts of educational and social access What’s the point? Writing deploying and delivering software has never been as accessible as it has ever been Much like the author I learned on my own too and with a lot less help because I didn’t have a parent even guiding me through it
- mghackerlady 6mo agothat is literally what this article is about, how returning to that is a bad thing
- AndrewKemendo 6mo agoBut that is not under threat and I’m not sure why people think it is None of the arguments demonstrate even accidentally that there is LESS knowledge or fewer options. This is the least locked in period and the better AI gets it will be an option to be even less locked in because you can just build and run everything yourself on your own hardware Literally anyone can run the equivalent of an entire datacenter from 2000 on a handful of retired servers and old laptops at this point.
- jimbokun 6mo agoI'm not sure how true that is. There was copious free information on the internet to learn about coding.
- Aurornis 6mo agoI was fortunate to grow up when the internet was full of free learning resources, but there was a time just before that when you really did need physical books to get beyond the basics. I remember talking to people a couple decades older than me and being confused when they talked about having to buy compilers, too.
- coldtea 6mo ago>Even back in the day you had to buy programming books and courses if you wanted to learn how to make the best code. That wasn't free "Even before the extinction level meteor hit Ohio, there were tiny meteors hitting Earth all the time, it wasn't that safe either".