Comment by aeturnum
2 days ago
> even if no one reads it
I gotta disagree with you there! Code that isn't read doesn't do anything. Code must be read to be compiled, it must be read to be interpreted, etc.
I think this points to a difference in our understanding of "read" means, perhaps? To expand my pithy "not gonna read if you didn't write" bit: The idea that code stands on its own is a lie. The world changes around code and code must be changed to keep up with the world. Every "program" (is the git I run the same as the git you run?) is a living document that people maintain as need be. So when we extend the "not read / didn't write" it's not using the program (which I guess is like taking the lessons from a book) it's maintaining the program.
So I think it's possible that I could derive benefit from someone else reading an llm's text output (they get an idea) - but what we are trying to talk about is the work of maintaining a text.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if you wrote a dependency-free recursive descent parser in C89 thirty years ago it should still compile and return the same AST.
Well, if it made use of any UB alongside its code, and it gets compiled with the latest version of a modern compiler in -O3, it might, or might not.
I mean....it will compile and return the same AST on the OS and hardware from 30 years ago. But if you want to get the same result today on modern hardware / software you may discover you need to make some changes (or rather people have been making little changes for 30 years to ensure you can still get the same AST). Generally software has either had little bits and bobs added and removed to keep it relevant or its fallen away and been forgotten.