What I dislike about AI-assisted coding becoming the norm is that it raises the barrier to entry.
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What I dislike about AI-assisted coding becoming the norm is that it raises the barrier to entry.
I learned to program on cheap Windows and Linux machines. I didn’t need anything else. Those machines were my playgrounds.
Now getting started means a machine plus a $200/month subscription. Cheaper plans exist, but their limits make experimentation and learning hard.
People say agents make programming more accessible. That’s true if you can afford them. For everyone else, it’s less accessible.
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What I dislike about AI-assisted coding becoming the norm is that it raises the barrier to entry.
I learned to program on cheap Windows and Linux machines. I didn’t need anything else. Those machines were my playgrounds.
Now getting started means a machine plus a $200/month subscription. Cheaper plans exist, but their limits make experimentation and learning hard.
People say agents make programming more accessible. That’s true if you can afford them. For everyone else, it’s less accessible.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy AI-assisted coding with tools like Codex and Claude, and I think they’ll play a big role going forward.
I just worry about who gets to grow up with this. I started programming at 7 or 8 years old, on whatever machine we had. I’m not sure this new world of coding is as open to eight-year-olds around the world.
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What I dislike about AI-assisted coding becoming the norm is that it raises the barrier to entry.
I learned to program on cheap Windows and Linux machines. I didn’t need anything else. Those machines were my playgrounds.
Now getting started means a machine plus a $200/month subscription. Cheaper plans exist, but their limits make experimentation and learning hard.
People say agents make programming more accessible. That’s true if you can afford them. For everyone else, it’s less accessible.
@simonbs That makes sense. However you can learn so much from free ChatGPT/Gemini/Claude etc. When I was first starting there are things I couldn’t learn because I didn’t even think of the questions, let alone know where to find them. Now every junior has a free expert to learn from.
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What I dislike about AI-assisted coding becoming the norm is that it raises the barrier to entry.
I learned to program on cheap Windows and Linux machines. I didn’t need anything else. Those machines were my playgrounds.
Now getting started means a machine plus a $200/month subscription. Cheaper plans exist, but their limits make experimentation and learning hard.
People say agents make programming more accessible. That’s true if you can afford them. For everyone else, it’s less accessible.
@simonbs isn't that's like saying Adobe subscription raises the bar to learning to draw?
If you're 10 and need AI to "learn to code" I have some bad news for you
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@simonbs isn't that's like saying Adobe subscription raises the bar to learning to draw?
If you're 10 and need AI to "learn to code" I have some bad news for you
@nerius I hope that analogy holds. I hope learning to code by hand remains the on-ramp. I just don’t see that narrative being pushed by the industry, and I don’t think the analogy holds.
A lot of companies are actively trying to minimize or eliminate manually written code in favor of agents. That’s a very different signal.
That’s why the drawing comparison breaks down for me. Drawing tools didn’t replace drawing, they digitized it. Wacom exists to capture skill, not to remove it.
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Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy AI-assisted coding with tools like Codex and Claude, and I think they’ll play a big role going forward.
I just worry about who gets to grow up with this. I started programming at 7 or 8 years old, on whatever machine we had. I’m not sure this new world of coding is as open to eight-year-olds around the world.
@simonbs also, let’s not forget that the current prices are actualky subsidized by VC, those 200€ would be more like 1000€ or if AI companies needed to break even and make a profit. I think this is the elephant in the room, they’re betting on devs becoming dependent on their tools, nothing always could justify those maintenance costs.
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@nerius I hope that analogy holds. I hope learning to code by hand remains the on-ramp. I just don’t see that narrative being pushed by the industry, and I don’t think the analogy holds.
A lot of companies are actively trying to minimize or eliminate manually written code in favor of agents. That’s a very different signal.
That’s why the drawing comparison breaks down for me. Drawing tools didn’t replace drawing, they digitized it. Wacom exists to capture skill, not to remove it.
@simonbs I see coding and AI as two separate skills. They might be complimentary but one will not replace the other.
AI bros want everyone to believe it will, just like blockchain replaced databases and full self driving will be available starting next quarter.
Companies want to eliminate manually written code because they hope to fire all the expensive programmers.
I, personally, wish them best of luck
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What I dislike about AI-assisted coding becoming the norm is that it raises the barrier to entry.
I learned to program on cheap Windows and Linux machines. I didn’t need anything else. Those machines were my playgrounds.
Now getting started means a machine plus a $200/month subscription. Cheaper plans exist, but their limits make experimentation and learning hard.
People say agents make programming more accessible. That’s true if you can afford them. For everyone else, it’s less accessible.
@simonbs Not only that, you need a smartphone, an active SIM card, an email address, … am I forgetting something?
On the other hand, when I started, getting access to a computer seemed like an impossible dream. Two hours friday evening at the school is where it started.
I know I am old, but still.
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What I dislike about AI-assisted coding becoming the norm is that it raises the barrier to entry.
I learned to program on cheap Windows and Linux machines. I didn’t need anything else. Those machines were my playgrounds.
Now getting started means a machine plus a $200/month subscription. Cheaper plans exist, but their limits make experimentation and learning hard.
People say agents make programming more accessible. That’s true if you can afford them. For everyone else, it’s less accessible.
@simonbs
Around 1978. My first access to a computer with a keyboard.10 print “hello”
20 goto 10
runBefore that I programmed on paper. Writing down binary machine code. Computers were simply too expensive. But programming was accessible, you just had to simulate the execution in your head.
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@nerius I hope that analogy holds. I hope learning to code by hand remains the on-ramp. I just don’t see that narrative being pushed by the industry, and I don’t think the analogy holds.
A lot of companies are actively trying to minimize or eliminate manually written code in favor of agents. That’s a very different signal.
That’s why the drawing comparison breaks down for me. Drawing tools didn’t replace drawing, they digitized it. Wacom exists to capture skill, not to remove it.
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