This essay from @jenniferplusplus is very good, and very important.
It’s good enough and important enough that I’m just going to QFT the heck out of it here on Mastodon until I annoy you into readying the whole thing.
https://jenniferplusplus.com/losing-the-imitation-game/
This essay isn’t the last word on AI in software — but what it says is the ground level for having any sort of coherent discussion about the topic that isn’t all hype and panic.
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Agree with the main point "non-trivial" is doing a fair bit of work here. For simple tasks, ChatGPT does a great job of turning conceptual sketches into code. That's already increasing programmer productivity and making basic coding accessible to non-programmers
@johnquiggin @inthehands It sounds like you're conceptualizing programmer productivity in an entirely backwards way.
@jenniferplusplus @inthehands That may be, as I'm not an expert. But lots of developers seem to feel the same way
@johnquiggin @inthehands
I have links, too
https://visualstudiomagazine.com/articles/2024/01/25/copilot-research.aspx
Also, I am an expert. And you're essentially saying that getting rid of maps and road signs makes drivers more productive.
@jenniferplusplus @johnquiggin
I don’t have anything to add to what Jennifer wrote above and what I wrote downthread, except to keep in mind that GitHub link is marketing material.
Reading your entire thread, we seem to be in furious agreement. "Code editor autocomplete" isn't "software development", but it isn't nothing either.