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Maybe it’s just me but it’s still hard. Writing code wasn’t hard before. Honestly putting up guard rails is harder than writing it yourself. It just may be fast

Maybe it’s just me but it’s still hard. Writing code wasn’t hard before. Honestly putting up guard rails is harder than writing it yourself. It just may be faster now. Getting proper requirements, knowing what to make, update, the domain knowledge, satisfying customers was and still is the hard part.

ipdashc 4mo ago
I don't disagree, and I've heard this said a bunch, but to some degree it feels like cope. Writing code wasn't generally the barrier to success, but it was still a barrier. And for sure, it's not gone entirely, but in a way it was one of the fun parts, and it does feel like a big part of it is gone now. Many of us have nostalgic memories about staying up late, in the zone, cranking out code until you manage to get something working. "Getting requirements", figuring out "what to make", "satisfying customers"... all as important as they always have been, but they just aren't fun in the same way. As for domain knowledge, well, to a degree that's one of the parts that used to be hard and isn't anymore. Like the article says, many of us prided ourselves on having in-depth knowledge of network protocols, OS internals, whatever. Now you can just ask a bot for that stuff and, while it's sure not perfect yet, stand a solid chance of getting a good answer.
- skydhash 4mo ago
  I don’t think writing code was ever hard. It’s basically the same level of difficulty as learning to write sheet music, a foreign language, or mathematical formula. Same with basic computer concepts. The hardest part is the formal logic, recursive reasoning, and how to abstract. It’s a thinking mode that some find difficult to adopt. As for domain knowledge, I don’t think that has ever been difficult to obtain. Just behind me, I have the CLRA Algorithms book, and that has pretty much everything you may need in that regards. Same with various other types of knowledge. And with Youtube, you can easily find visualizations if books do not work for you. I’ve taught people how to code and they can grasp concepts quite easily. It’s the thinking aspect that they have trouble with. Meticulously thinking about every computation path, categorizing errors and handling them is not something a lot of people like.
  - blanched 4mo ago
    Interesting - I’ve been thinking that when people say “writing code” they mean figuring out abstractions, logic, reasoning. Without that, what’s left? The syntax? Realizing we might not all have the same thing in mind when someone says “writing code was never hard/easy” is making a lot of other comments I’ve read here make more sense!
    - skydhash 4mo ago
      Writing code, IMO, is mostly the typing. AKA the syntax and whatever libraries/platforms you’re using. They are incidental to creating a software solution to whatever problems. It requires rigor, but it’s not particularly difficult. Abstractions, logic, and reasoning is not helped by AI tools. Yes they can give you a ready-made solution, but you’ll need to exercise judgement to see if it really fits the problem. And doing the latter can be as hard as just doing it yourself.
      - blanched 4mo ago
        I would agree with that. Whenever I’ve delegated more than what feels like ~80% to the agent (“vibe coding”, I suppose) is when it starts feeling bloated, messy, and bug-prone. On the flip side, having a design written ahead of time, ideally with reviews by peers and AI and as little as possible AI “content”, seems to almost always go well. Obviously very subjective!
        skydhash 4mo ago
        I don’t disagree with you, when building with Xcode or Android studio, kinda like 90 percent of the code is generated or copied from examples in the doc. Same with HTML when using a CSS framework. I learned vim, just to be efficient with copypasting :) So far for me to throw shades to anyone using tools. My arguments is more about throwing slop at fellow collaborators, not ensuring correctness of the code, and various claims that try to justify those behaviors. “The agent wrote it” is no more of an excuse than “It was the accepted answer on Stack Oveflow”.
deleted 4mo ago
[deleted]

ipdashc 4mo ago

I don't disagree, and I've heard this said a bunch, but to some degree it feels like cope. Writing code wasn't generally the barrier to success, but it was still a barrier. And for sure, it's not gone entirely, but in a way it was one of the fun parts, and it does feel like a big part of it is gone now. Many of us have nostalgic memories about staying up late, in the zone, cranking out code until you manage to get something working. "Getting requirements", figuring out "what to make", "satisfying customers"... all as important as they always have been, but they just aren't fun in the same way. As for domain knowledge, well, to a degree that's one of the parts that used to be hard and isn't anymore. Like the article says, many of us prided ourselves on having in-depth knowledge of network protocols, OS internals, whatever. Now you can just ask a bot for that stuff and, while it's sure not perfect yet, stand a solid chance of getting a good answer.

skydhash 4mo ago
I don’t think writing code was ever hard. It’s basically the same level of difficulty as learning to write sheet music, a foreign language, or mathematical formula. Same with basic computer concepts. The hardest part is the formal logic, recursive reasoning, and how to abstract. It’s a thinking mode that some find difficult to adopt. As for domain knowledge, I don’t think that has ever been difficult to obtain. Just behind me, I have the CLRA Algorithms book, and that has pretty much everything you may need in that regards. Same with various other types of knowledge. And with Youtube, you can easily find visualizations if books do not work for you. I’ve taught people how to code and they can grasp concepts quite easily. It’s the thinking aspect that they have trouble with. Meticulously thinking about every computation path, categorizing errors and handling them is not something a lot of people like.
- blanched 4mo ago
  Interesting - I’ve been thinking that when people say “writing code” they mean figuring out abstractions, logic, reasoning. Without that, what’s left? The syntax? Realizing we might not all have the same thing in mind when someone says “writing code was never hard/easy” is making a lot of other comments I’ve read here make more sense!
  - skydhash 4mo ago
    Writing code, IMO, is mostly the typing. AKA the syntax and whatever libraries/platforms you’re using. They are incidental to creating a software solution to whatever problems. It requires rigor, but it’s not particularly difficult. Abstractions, logic, and reasoning is not helped by AI tools. Yes they can give you a ready-made solution, but you’ll need to exercise judgement to see if it really fits the problem. And doing the latter can be as hard as just doing it yourself.
    - blanched 4mo ago
      I would agree with that. Whenever I’ve delegated more than what feels like ~80% to the agent (“vibe coding”, I suppose) is when it starts feeling bloated, messy, and bug-prone. On the flip side, having a design written ahead of time, ideally with reviews by peers and AI and as little as possible AI “content”, seems to almost always go well. Obviously very subjective!
      - skydhash 4mo ago
        I don’t disagree with you, when building with Xcode or Android studio, kinda like 90 percent of the code is generated or copied from examples in the doc. Same with HTML when using a CSS framework. I learned vim, just to be efficient with copypasting :) So far for me to throw shades to anyone using tools. My arguments is more about throwing slop at fellow collaborators, not ensuring correctness of the code, and various claims that try to justify those behaviors. “The agent wrote it” is no more of an excuse than “It was the accepted answer on Stack Oveflow”.

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]