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Poll: Code with AI or Not?

25•bitbasher•2h ago

Comments

lkbm•1h ago
Yes, just also be sure to spend some time writing "by hand".
lolsowrong•1h ago
I agree with this, but I’m also curious: what would have to change before that advice is as sound as “write a little bit of assembly by hand” or the even more ridiculous “just write the raw bytes for the program in a hex editor?”
recursive•1h ago
A compiler is a reliable layer of abstraction using documented structured languages. For me it would need to be that.
sarchertech•1h ago
When I can look at a prompt and predict what the code it outputs will look like to some high degree of accuracy.

I mostly don’t think that is possible though because there’s too much ambiguity in natural language. So the answer is probably when AI is close enough to AGI that I can treat it like an actual trusted senior engineer that I’m delegating to.

lolsowrong•12m ago
Can you look at code today and predict what assembly a compiler will output to some high degree of accuracy? Do you avoid certain classes of compiler optimization so you can more accurately predict compiler output? I recall a time where many compilers would remove a bzero() operation in situations where you’re trying to zero out a buffer that had sensitive data in it - it’s why we have APIs like https://github.com/MicrosoftDocs/win32/blob/docs/desktop-src.... I ran into a huge performance regression because I didn’t have all the edges of named return value optimization in mind when I refactored some code.

There’s ambiguity in the x86 specification, such that you can execute a single instruction and get different results in intel vs amd. See the rcpss instruction, for example.

I get that LLMs are categorically different, and they’re absolutely not as reliable as compilers are, but compilers are also not as reliable as compilers seem. And even less predictable IMO.

bjt•37m ago
Even with LLMs, we need a way to translate between the imprecise plain English description of a program and the completely-unambiguous level of code. You need the ability to see when the LLM has resolved ambiguities in the wrong direction and steer it back. If you can't speak code, that's going to be a very error-prone process.
tobr•1h ago
Are you asking what I do or are you asking for advice on what you should do?
re-thc•1h ago
Sounds like neither. More like throw a dice and press the up button.
NamlchakKhandro•1h ago
Yes
bossyTeacher•1h ago
This has to be the first poll I have ever seen on this website
marcosdumay•1h ago
They use to be more common, but polls have low odds of being productive.
fdgg•1h ago
I hope this thread/poll sparks productive and effective discussion on the subject.
throwaway2037•1h ago
For me, I used it find libraries to solve a problem that I didn't know about. Or to debug confusing error messages when library/language docs are insufficient.
7777332215•1h ago
Only use chatting to get answers for various things, often cross referenced with Google results, dedicated forums, and reddit. For programming/software work I use it to try to find problems with my architectural/design decisions, find new libraries, and best practices. I do not use it for code gen, instead I leverage high level deterministic (non ai) tools to do more with less code.
mpalmer•1h ago
It's not going to tell us much because we don't know the standard of code quality that respondents hold themselves to.
fdgg•1h ago
True, but easier to see consensus than reading through a thread that is filled with a variety of posts in terms of usefulness.
bitbasher•1h ago
Yes-- this is what I wanted. I wanted to get an idea of where most people fall.
Rodeoclash•1h ago
My flow is the AI writes most of the code, I closely review, question and tweak everything that comes out. My commits are about the same size as they were. Don't vibe code or one shot features.
pan69•1h ago
I'd consider myself a very experienced (~30 years), but mediocre dev, and this AI thing has completely transformed my capabilities as a software developer. People compare AI to a "smart junior" or something like it. To me, it's more the mentor I never had. When I have AI review code that I wrote, I will point out things I would either have never thought of, or would have taken me weeks or months of going back and forth to figure out. There are lots of things in software development that I hate doing, such as CSS/HTML, AI is now filling the gap that used to be an obstacle for me. With AI this now has become fun as it feels like I am not alone working on this thing. What it produces, I can understand and I review its work as well as vica-verca. I mostly use it in assistant mode. I do not have an army of agents running (yet).
TRiG_Ireland•1h ago
I was made redundant (from a web dev job) a couple of years ago, and have been looking for a new job. But the thought of coding with an LLM gives me the heebie jeebies. The very idea makes my skin crawl. I think I need to find a new industry. I don't yet know what.
Shitty-kitty•1h ago
There is a category missing between "as much as you can" and "chatting".

Yes, as a better autocomplete.

jezek2•1h ago
I don't think it's wise to use it for anything. Even when chatting with an LLM you would have to check everything yourself which nobody would truly do. The generated code can't be really trusted (and nobody will review everything, quite the opposite). It can also have copyright issues.

People are allergic to articles and documentation generated/processed by LLM.

You're switching from an active role to a passive one, meaning your skill will suffer over the time. There is a huge difference between doing the things and thinking you know what it's doing. It's harder to review bad generated code because how polished it looks, compared to code made by humans where the difference is much more obvious.

Code assistants seem to work great when dealing with boilerplate, but wouldn't be better to get rid of the need for the boilerplate in the first place?

The trap Anthropic built for itself

https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/28/the-trap-anthropic-built-for-itself/
1•pseudolus•1m ago•0 comments

Sites with a /Now Page

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Happy Map

https://pudding.cool/2026/02/happy-map/
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Just two days of oatmeal cut bad cholesterol by 10%

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260225081217.htm
1•gradus_ad•13m ago•1 comments

Microgpt

http://karpathy.github.io/2026/02/12/microgpt/
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Blender iPad App Development Halted as Android Tablets Get Priority

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Reconstructing OPL: Joseph Weizenbaum's Online Programming Language

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Running a One Trillion-Parameter LLM Locally on AMD Ryzen AI Max+ Cluster

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4•mindcrime•32m ago•0 comments

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4•hn_acker•33m ago•1 comments

Agentation: Structured UI feedback for coding agents

https://agentation.dev/
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AMA about our work with the Dow and our thinking over the past few days

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1•Burnmydays•45m ago•0 comments

deleted

1•folkstack•46m ago•0 comments

Ubuntu 26.04 ends a 40-year old sudo tradition

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Napkin Math Flashcards

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Sam Altman AMA about DoD deal

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TENSURE: Fuzzing Sparse Tensor Compilers (Registered Report)

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1•matt_d•51m ago•0 comments

OpenAI has released Dow contract language, and it's as Anthropic claimed

https://twitter.com/justanotherlaw/status/2027855993921802484
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A Day in the Life of an Enshittificator [video]

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Claude making me more productive every day usecases

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1•matt_d•58m ago•0 comments