Agreed, but do you honestly think LLMs have reached the level of average programmer? Or is it more a matter of "they can churn out code until I see something that is close enough and I'll make the last few edits"?
Also curious if you publish your working setup or if it changes as fast as the LLMs? Seems like you may have a more stable setup than most given how you are developing tools in the space.
I still do not see LLMs as replacements for programmers - they're tools for programmers to direct. If you don't know anything about programming you might be able to get a vibe coded prototype or simple tool out of them but that's a very different thing from a what happens when a skilled software developer uses these things to help accelerate their work.
My current setup is mainly Claude Code CLI on macOS and Claude Code for web driven by the iPhone all and macOS desktop app. I occasionally use Codex CLI too.
I expect I'll be on a different default combo of tools within a month or two.
> The Daily WTF at least once. That's representative of the average
I'd say The Daily WTF are the more spectacularly weird and wrong, not representative; I've seen a few things deserving to be on their site in real life*, but the average I've seen has been much better than that.
It's difficult to be sure, but I think these models are roughly like someone with 1-3 years of experience, though the worst codebase(s) I've seen have been from person(s) who somehow lasted a decade or two in the industry.
* 1000 lines inside an always-true if-block, a pantheon of god classes that poorly re-invent the concept of named properties, copy-pasting class files rather than subclassing even after I'd added comments about needing to de-duplicate things in them, and that was all the same project.
Ok, then as a self described LLM evangelist, what motivates you to preach about LLM coding instead of just, y'know, doing it in private?
It would feel selfish for me not to help other people figure this stuff out.
Probably some of the same things that have always motivated people to explore and then write about their findings for others.
Do you mind when people do this about topics you find interesting? If not, why are you even on HN?
Agreed, but do you honestly think LLMs have reached the level of average programmer? Or is it more a matter of "they can churn out code until I see something that is close enough and I'll make the last few edits"?
Also curious if you publish your working setup or if it changes as fast as the LLMs? Seems like you may have a more stable setup than most given how you are developing tools in the space.
I still do not see LLMs as replacements for programmers - they're tools for programmers to direct. If you don't know anything about programming you might be able to get a vibe coded prototype or simple tool out of them but that's a very different thing from a what happens when a skilled software developer uses these things to help accelerate their work.
My current setup is mainly Claude Code CLI on macOS and Claude Code for web driven by the iPhone all and macOS desktop app. I occasionally use Codex CLI too.
I expect I'll be on a different default combo of tools within a month or two.
Honestly? LLMs are currently above average at programming.
We've all been through The Daily WTF at least once. That's representative of the average. (Although some examples are more egregious than others.)
> The Daily WTF at least once. That's representative of the average
I'd say The Daily WTF are the more spectacularly weird and wrong, not representative; I've seen a few things deserving to be on their site in real life*, but the average I've seen has been much better than that.
It's difficult to be sure, but I think these models are roughly like someone with 1-3 years of experience, though the worst codebase(s) I've seen have been from person(s) who somehow lasted a decade or two in the industry.
* 1000 lines inside an always-true if-block, a pantheon of god classes that poorly re-invent the concept of named properties, copy-pasting class files rather than subclassing even after I'd added comments about needing to de-duplicate things in them, and that was all the same project.