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Comment by ChrisMarshallNY | Hacker News Reader

I'm constantly working on stuff I don't know (the Xcode window behind this browser window is full of that kind of code). I have found LLMs are a great help in pushing the boundaries.

It's humbling, but I do tend to pick up a lot of stuff.

https://littlegreenviper.com/miscellany/thats-not-what-ships...

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There are a definitely few ulcer-inducing events in my past that would've taken me an afternoon to fix with a current SOTA LLM vs 2+ weeks of swearing, crying and stressing out.

When I come upon an issue, I pretty much immediately copy/paste the code into an LLM, with a description of the context, symptoms, and desired outcome.

It will usually home right in on the bug, or will give me a good starting point.

It's also really good at letting me know if this behavior is a "commonly encountered" one, with a summary of ways it's addressed.

I've probably done that at least a dozen times, today. I guess I'm a rotten programmer.

I've completed actual features by saying "look up issue ABBA-1234 and create a plan to implement it" to Claude.

Then I wait, look through the plan and tell it to implement and go do something else.

After a while I check the diffs and go "huh, yea, that's how I would've done it too", commit and push.

In 10 years this will be a "that's how I would've done it 10 years ago too...or?? I don't remember"

There's a gut feeling that comes from having gotten your hands dirty enough that tells you if the LLM is being smart or spitting out bullshit.

The main issue I have with LLM-generated solutions, is that LLMs never seem to know about “Occam’s Razor.”

Their solution usually benefits from some simplification.

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