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Comment by ilrwbwrkhv | Hacker News Reader

The problem I have with tools like this (same as github copilot) is that I need to go ahead and double check if the AI did the right thing. At that point I might as well right the comment.

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The tools can reduce the time and mental energy spent writing boilerplate and provide consistent structure to code and comments. This allows me to operate at a higher level of abstraction instead of worrying about details. Often it’s faster and easier to edit incorrect autogenerated code than to write it from scratch, especially when you work with many languages with their own idioms. Reviewing code is part of the process whether I’m writing from scratch or using autosuggestions.

> often it’s faster and easier to edit incorrect autogenerated code than to write it from scratch, especially when you work with many languages with their own idioms.

Completely disagree. Once you get really fluent in a language it is so much faster to write something from scratch. Especially if you have certain patterns you follow.

Code review is different because that has a different goal.

I’m fluent in English and I find autocomplete helpful. More advanced tools like Writefull that can help paraphrase or structure larger blocks of text have a lot of potential. These next generation autocomplete tools already are and will be increasingly useful to experts.

>The tools can reduce the time and mental energy spent writing boilerplate

If you're writing enough boilerplate that you find it useful to have a little helper write boilerplate for you then you are writing way, way, way too much boilerplate.

If you have literally any boilerplate in comments then you probably have too much.

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