←back to thread

378 points todsacerdoti | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.213s | source
Show context
rickreynoldssf ◴[] No.44984286[source]
I think a lot of the impressions of AI generating slop is a case of garbage in/garbage out. You need to learn HOW to ask for things. Just asking "write code to do X" is wrong in most cases. You have to provide some specifications and expectations just like working with a junior engineer. You also can't ask "write me a module that does X". You need to design the module yourself and maybe ask AI for help with each specific individual endpoint.

These juniors you're complaining about are going to get better in making these requests of AI and blow right past all the seniors who yell at clouds running AI.

replies(6): >>44984471 #>>44984483 #>>44984496 #>>44984530 #>>44984585 #>>44984593 #
1. NitpickLawyer ◴[] No.44984585[source]
> I think a lot of the impressions of AI generating slop is a case of garbage in/garbage out.

I've been coding for 25 years and what I feel reading posts & comments like in this thread is what I felt in the first few days of that black-blue/white-gold dress thing. I legitimately felt like half the people were trolling.

It's the same with LLM assisted coding. I can't possibly be getting such good results when all the rest are getting garbage, right? Impostor syndrome? Are they trolling?

But yeah, I agree fully with you. You need to actively try everything yourself, and this is what I recommend to my colleagues and friends. Try it out. See what works and what doesn't. Focus on what works, and put it in markdown files. Avoid what doesn't work today, but be ready because tomorrow it might work. Use flows. Use plan / act accordingly. Use the correct tools (context7 is a big one). Use search before planning. Search, write it to md files, add it in the repo. READ the plans carefully. Edit before you start a task. Edit, edit edit. Use git trees, use tools that you'd be using anyway in your pipelines. Pay attention to the output. Don't argue, go back to step1, plan better. See what works for context, what doesn't work. Add things, remove things. Have examples ready. Use examples properly. There's sooo much to learn here.