alt Hacker NewsIf my compiler "went down" I could still think through the problem I was trying to solve, maybe even work out the code on paper. I could reach a point where I would be fairly confident that I had the problem solved, even though I lacked the ability to actually implement the solution.
If my LLM goes down, I have nothing. I guess I could imagine prompts that might get it to do what I want, but there's no guarantee that those would work once it's available again. No amount of thought on my part will get me any closer to the solution, if I'm relying on the LLM as my "compiler".
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Why couldn’t you actually write out the documents and think through the problem? I think my interaction is inverted from yours. I have way more thinking and writing I can do to prep an agent than I can a compiler and it’s more valuable for the final output.
I think if you're vibe coding to the extent that you don't even know the shapes of data your system works with (e.g. the schema if you use a database) you might be outsourcing a bit too much of your thinking.
What stops you from thinking through the problem if an LLM goes down, as you still have its previously produced code in front of you? It's worse if a compiler goes down because you can't even build the program to begin with.
In my opinion, this sort of learned helplessness is harmful for engineers as a whole.