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Nobody knows how to build with AI yet

(worksonmymachine.substack.com)
526 points Stwerner | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.217s | source
1. tom_m ◴[] No.44626930[source]
Why are we counting the number of documents? It doesn't matter. What matters is putting together a plan and being able to articulate what you want. Then review and adjust and prompt again.

You have to know how software gets built and works. You can't just expect to get it right without a decent understanding of software architecture and product design.

This is something that's actually very hard. I'm coming to grips with that slowly, because it's always been part of my process. I'm both a programmer and a graphic designer. It took me a long while to recognize not everyone has spent a great deal of time doing both. Fewer yet decide to learn good software design patterns, study frameworks and open-source projects to understand the problems each of them are solving. It takes a LOT of time. It too me probably 10-15 years just to learn all of this. I've been building software for over 20 years. So it just takes time and that's ok.

The most wonderful thing I see about AI is that it should help people focus on these things. It should free people from getting too far into the weeds and too focused on the code itself. We need more people who can apply critical thinking and design from a bird's eye perspective. We need people who can see the big picture.

replies(2): >>44627050 #>>44627842 #
2. bob1029 ◴[] No.44627050[source]
Knowing is at least half the battle. Doesn't matter what kind of tools you intend to use if you don't even know where the job site is located.

I've been around the block a few times on ideas like a B2B/SaaS requirements gathering product that other B2B/SaaS vendors could use to collect detailed, structured requirements from their customers. Something like an open-world Turbo Tax style workflow experience where the user is eventually cornered into providing all of the needed information before the implementation effort begins.

3. devin ◴[] No.44627842[source]
> The most wonderful thing I see about AI is that it should help people focus on these things.

Unfortunately I’ve been around this industry long enough to know that this is not in fact what is going to happen. We will be driven by greedy people with small minds to produce faster rather build correct systems, and the people who will pay will be users and consumers.