“Because of GenAI, coding is no longer the bottleneck” (blog.robbowley.net)
from codeinabox@programming.dev to programming@programming.dev on 05 Jan 17:43
https://programming.dev/post/43535428

#programming

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jonathan7luke@lemmy.zip on 05 Jan 17:52 next collapse

Sharing this from the article to hopefully save the post a few downvotes:

Coding was never the bottleneck. Not recently. Not in the last decade. Arguably not since we stopped feeding punchcards into machines.

<img alt="Coding was never the bottleneck astronaut with gun meme" src="https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/021163e5-f7a7-4352-9541-275516a23e2f.avif">

codeinabox@programming.dev on 05 Jan 18:02 next collapse

Thank you! I’ve added the image to the post as well.

resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world on 05 Jan 23:05 next collapse

Kind of on the author for giving the article a clickbaity title.

Today there’s lots of interest in “specification driven development” with GenAI as if it’s the hot new thing.

Agree with the author — “specification driven development” is like saying cold ice cream is the hot new thing.

Gonzako@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 14:23 collapse

I feel this so much. I started doing a rewrite of a plugin wanting to understand how it does its work and the real bottleneck is not knowing what’s being done, not how to write it down

Technus@lemmy.zip on 05 Jan 18:13 next collapse

I’ve long maintained that actually writing code is only a small part of the job. Understanding the code that exists and knowing what code to write is 90% of it.

I don’t personally feel that gen AI has a place in my work, because I think about the code as I’m writing it. By the time I have a complete enough understanding of what I want the code to do in order to write it into a prompt, the work is already mostly done, and banging out the code that remains and seeing it come to life is just pure catharsis.

The idea of having to hand-hold an LLM through figuring out the solution itself just doesn’t sound fun to me. If I had to do that, I’d rather be teaching an actual human to do it.

[deleted] on 05 Jan 23:26 collapse
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[deleted] on 05 Jan 23:48 collapse
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IpsumLauren@lemmy.world on 05 Jan 18:19 next collapse

The new bottleneck is reviewing the generated slop.

calliope@retrolemmy.com on 05 Jan 20:04 collapse

Well now writing/reviewing the code really is the bottleneck.

IpsumLauren@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 13:46 collapse

I meant reviewing the code generated by coworkers 🫤

calliope@retrolemmy.com on 06 Jan 14:30 next collapse

Oh I know, I was agreeing with you! I obviously wasn’t clear though based on my number of upvotes.

Just seems funny

Ledivin@lemmy.world on 06 Jan 14:36 collapse

So not really any materially different from 10 years ago?

dontsayaword@piefed.social on 05 Jan 18:45 collapse

Was writing code the bottleneck before? Or was it planning, alignment, learning, iteration, testing, etc?

limer@lemmy.ml on 05 Jan 20:30 next collapse

I can hand write a lot very fast, but it only had value when I do the above.

squaresinger@lemmy.world on 05 Jan 22:19 collapse

That’s exactly what the article is about. Please read it, it’s good.

dontsayaword@piefed.social on 05 Jan 22:22 collapse

You caught me reacting to the headline without reading it. I will check it out.