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stuffnlast Tuesday at 7:48 PM1 replyview on HN

I think the counter-point to that is what I experience.

I agree it can be energizing because you can offload the bullshit work to a robot. For example, build me a CRUD app with a bootstrap frontend. Highly useful stuff especially if this isn't your professional forte.

The problems come afterwards:

1. The bigger the base codebase generation the less likely you're going to find time or energy to refactor LLM slop into something maintainable. I've spent a lot of time tailoring prompts for this type of generation and still can't get the code to be as precise as something an engineer would write.

2. Using an unfamiliar language means you're relying entirely on the LLM to determine what is safe. Suppose you wish to generate a project in C++. An LLM will happily do it. But will it be up to a standard that is maintainable and safe? Probably not. The devil is in the mundane details you don't understand.

In the case of (2) it's likely more instructive to have the LLM make you do the leg work, and then it can suggest simple verifiable changes. In the case of (1) I think it's just an extension of the complexity of any project professional or not. It's often better to write it correct the first time than write it fast and loose and then find the time to fix it later.


Replies

OptionOfTlast Tuesday at 8:50 PM

Ergo instant tech debt.