Comment by sundar_p
4 days ago
I wonder if not exercising code writing will atrophy this ability. Similarly to how the ability to read a book does not necessarily imply the ability to write a book.
I find that I understand and am more opinionated about code when I personally write it; conversely, I am more lenient/less careful when reviewing someone else's work.
I can relate to this. In my experience, my brain has already started resisting writing code manually — it increasingly “waits” for GPT to suggest a full solution. I even get annoyed when the answer isn’t right on the first try.
That said, I can’t deny that my coding speed has multiplied. Since I started using GPT, I’ve completely stopped relying on junior assistants. Some tasks are now easier to solve directly with GPT, skipping specs and manual reviews entirely.
To drag out the trite comparison once more: not writing assembly will atrophy your skill to write assembly, yet the vast majority of us is perfectly happy handing this work to a compiler. I know, this analogy has issues (deterministic vs stochastic, etc.) but the code remains true: you might lose that particular skill, but it might not matter as you slide on up the abstraction latter.
Not writing assembly may atrophy your ability to read assembly is my point. We still have to reason about the output of these code generators until/if they become bulletproof.