Comment by cushychicken
8 hours ago
I love coding - but I am not very good at it. I can describe what I want in great detail, with great specificity. But I am not personally very good at turning that detailed specification into the proper syntax and incantations.
AI is like jet fuel for me. It’s the translation layer between specs and code I’ve always wanted. It’s a great advisor for implementation strategies. It’s a way to try new strategies in code quickly.
I don’t need to get anyone else to review my code. Most of this is for personal projects.
I don’t really write professionally, so I don’t have a ton of need for it to manage realities of software engineering (large codebases, peer reviews, black box internal systems, etc). That being said - I do a reasonable amount of embedded Linux work, and AI understands the Linux kernel and device drivers very well.
To extend your metaphor: AI is like a magic microphone that makes all of my singing sound like Tony Rice, my personal favorite singer. I’ve always wanted to sound like him - but I never will. I don’t have the range or the training. But AI allows my coding level to get to that corresponding level with writing software.
I absolutely love it.
This is really interesting to me.
Do you love coding, or do you love creating programs?
It seems like the latter given your metaphor being a microphone to make you seem like you could sing well, i.e. wanting the end state itself rather than the achievement via the process.
"wanted to sound like him" vs "wanted to sing like him"
I very much like creating programs.
The code is a tool. Nothing more.
I love the shed I built for my family. I don’t have a single feeling for the hammer I used to build it.
For the record: I can sing well. I just can’t sound like Tony Rice. I don’t have his vocal cords or training.
I enjoy using tools to create, very much so. The process is fun to me. The thing I create is a record of the process/ work that went into it. Planning and making a cut with a circular saw feels good. Rattling a spray paint can is exciting.
I made a cyber deck several months back, and I opted to carve the case from wood rather than 3d printing or using a premade shell. That hands-on work is something I'm proud of. I don't even use the deck much, it was for the love of building one.
To be fair, I don't have any problem with people who do their jobs for the paycheck alone, because that's the world capitalism has forced us into. Companies don't care about or reward you for the skills you possess, only how much money you make them (and they won't compensate you properly for it, either), so there's no advantage to tying your self-worth up in what you produce for them.
But I do think that it's sad we're seeing creative skills, whether writing coding composing or drawing, be devalued by AI as we are.
> For the record: I can sing well.
That is awesome! It's a great skill to have, honestly. As someone whose body tends to be falling apart more than impressing anyone, I envy that. :)