Armin was once one of the most prolific programmers in Python.

@futurebird

@cwebber

I use roman numerals as a startup kata in coding dojos, like a workshop to practice pair programming and writing tests and talk about programming practices.

https://codingdojo.org/kata/RomanNumerals/

@cwebber

I don't really get how one could use an LLM to help with coding without reading the code?

That's baffling. But I don't make apps I teach young people to think and solve problems. So maybe that's why I don't get it.

Armin was once one of the most prolific programmers in Python. Says he never writes code anymore. Seeing more and more people like him write stuff like this on what are supposedly computer programming forums. https://lobste.rs/s/qmjejh/ai_is_slowly_munching_away_my_passion#c_jcgdju

Notably, once a person crosses this threshold, I see them still hang out on programming forums, but they never talk about any of the puzzles of programming anymore. Only about running agents. Which feels strange and sad. Why hang out on the forums at all then?

Feeling FOMO about AI? Well here's my advice!

Stay on top of what's happening. Which doesn't really require *using* the tools. Just see what people are doing.

Whether or not you do use it, stay a practitioner. And don't fall for the FOMO.

Your career won't end because you're not making the choice to use AI. (If your employer makes you use it, that's another thing.)

If you use AI, use it for "summarize and explore" tasks. DO NOT use it for *generate* tasks. That's a different thing.

If you want to differentiate yourself, *learning skills* is the differentiation space right now.

These things are easy to pick up. You can do it whenever. But keep learning.

If you see generated examples, don't paste or accept them. Type them in by hand! The hands on imperative: actually trying things congeals core ideas.

And if it doesn't help your career... well, your consolation prize is: you'll stay interesting.

@faassen @cwebber

A solution that 5th graders can complete

elegant? eh

print("Roman Numerals")

ones = ["","I","II", "III", "IV", "V","VI", "VII", "VIII", "IX"]
tens = ["", "X", "XX","XXX", "XL", "L", "LX", "LXX", "LXXX", "XC"]
hundreds = ["", "C", "CC", "CCC", "CD", "D", "DC", "DCC", "DCC", "CM"]
thousands = ["", "M", "MM", "MMM"]

n = input("enter a number 1 to 3999")
n=int(n)

m=n//1000
n=n-m*1000

h=n//100
n=n-h*100

t=n//10
n=n-t*10

print(thousands[m]+hundreds[h]+tens[t]+ones[n])

Armin was once one of the most prolific programmers in Python. Says he never writes code anymore. Seeing more and more people like him write stuff like this on what are supposedly computer programming forums. https://lobste.rs/s/qmjejh/ai_is_slowly_munching_away_my_passion#c_jcgdju

Notably, once a person crosses this threshold, I see them still hang out on programming forums, but they never talk about any of the puzzles of programming anymore. Only about running agents. Which feels strange and sad. Why hang out on the forums at all then?

@cwebber What's telling, I think, is that all these people go on about how much they're doing and how great AI is to help them build more *but there's no actual demonstrable stuff being done.* I mean, if AI was some kind of Nx multiplier you'd think we'd be getting N times more actual functionality out of software but mostly it seems like the N multiplier only applies to blog posts about how AI multiplies their programming.

@cwebber identity, community, established relationships, safety of a known space?

(I don't know this individual, answering in the general sense)

@cwebber What's telling, I think, is that all these people go on about how much they're doing and how great AI is to help them build more *but there's no actual demonstrable stuff being done.* I mean, if AI was some kind of Nx multiplier you'd think we'd be getting N times more actual functionality out of software but mostly it seems like the N multiplier only applies to blog posts about how AI multiplies their programming.

Armin was once one of the most prolific programmers in Python. Says he never writes code anymore. Seeing more and more people like him write stuff like this on what are supposedly computer programming forums. https://lobste.rs/s/qmjejh/ai_is_slowly_munching_away_my_passion#c_jcgdju

Notably, once a person crosses this threshold, I see them still hang out on programming forums, but they never talk about any of the puzzles of programming anymore. Only about running agents. Which feels strange and sad. Why hang out on the forums at all then?

@futurebird

@cwebber

Very nice! I have watched experienced devs have to work at this too. They often lean towards overcomplicating things because they want to avoid hardcoding the patterns. But this then leads to a nice little discussion.

@cwebber Also, don't use it for "summarize" because it literally can't do that.

https://ea.rna.nl/2024/05/27/when-chatgpt-summarises-it-actually-does-nothing-of-the-kind/