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Comment by wolvesechoes | Hacker News Reader

I, on the other hand, tried to vibe-code BDF-like ODE solver. Not some rough prototype, because I can do the rough prototype easily myself, but something robust and fast, with event handling etc. AI couldn't do it. Actually it couldn't do correctly anything more complex than out-of-the-textbook explicit RK4, but this is something undergrad students do while learning numerical methods for the first time.

And solvers are actually a simpler aspect of the project I am working on. It also includes (or rather aims to include) optimizing compiler with DAE to ODE reduction, advanced numerical debugging etc.

This is why these discussions are pointless - AI works well for some people in some contexts, for others not so much, yet both sides extrapolate their experience as universal.

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I see what your saying but I would argue that vibe coding an ODE solver is an incorrect use of the tool. For something like and ODE solver you need to have a really solid understanding of what data structures you will use,and solid general knowledge of the numerical methods you want to implement. Then, you can use AI as an assistant when you get stuck, or to deepen your understanding, look over your implementation, etc.

It seems like developers used to always joke about how much they used stack exchange (even senior devs). Now it seems like there are suddenly so many people who claim to never need any help and can just smoothly bust out beautiful code all day long.

> I see what your saying but I would argue that vibe coding an ODE solver is an incorrect use of the tool.

Agreed. No true Scotsman would use the tool this way.

But that is the case - I know how to implement production-ready ODE solver. My issue with AI was that it was able to help with basics, but not with those really important bits, so it couldn't really deepen much.

> For something like and ODE solver you need to have a really solid understanding of what data structures you will use,and solid general knowledge of the numerical methods you want to implement.

For basically every thing you program, you need to have a really solid understanding of what data structures you will use, and solid general knowledge of the methods you want to implement.

I claim that as a conservative estimate at least 90 % (likely more than 95 %) of what I code at work (and even more for what I code privately) is of this kind.

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