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
@jenniferplusplus @inthehands That may be, as I'm not an expert. But lots of developers seem to feel the same way
When the GitHub Copilot Technical Preview launched just over one year ago, we wanted to know one thing: Is this tool helping developers? The GitHub Next team conducted research using a combination of surveys and experiments, which led us to expected and unexpected answers.
@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.
Reading your entire thread, we seem to be in furious agreement. "Code editor autocomplete" isn't "software development", but it isn't nothing either.
Paul Cantrell
John Quiggin
Jenniferplusplus