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Comment by sodapopcan | Hacker News Reader

That's where pair programming came in but it turns out that most people hate each other so much that they'd rather work with a machine pretending to be a person.

I realize there are many levels to this claim but I'm not being sarcastic at all here.

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Using an LLM is a form of pair programming.

Yeah, akin to talking to a rubber ducky

I like to agree as sorta yes but also really no because it's a rubber ducky that doesn't give you the chance to come to your own conclusion and even if it does it has you questioning it.

i find its the opposite, LLMs can be made to agree with anything.... largely because that agreeability is in their system prompt

Ha, touche!

Yeah, this. Every conversation inevitably ends with "you're absolutely right!" The number of "you're absolutely right"s per session is roughly how I measure model performance (inverse correlation).

Not sure how to respond to this as clearly that's what I was getting at. Perhaps this is a response from an LLM though. Again, not being sarcastic, it just seems like it's maybe the case?

you make a good point and everything but have you considered the way people using LLM is similar to the way we review code together as humans? but if you think about it, they just swapped one of the humans with an LLM

Yes, I am just against code review (except in certain circumstances) and think pair programming (with humans) is much more productive and beneficial.

Pair programming is exhausting to a lot of people, myself included. My brain just doesn't work like that. I work in fits and starts, with weird, sustained bursts of productivity.

Pair programming is draining to me.

It's exhausting to me too! But when you do it every day you get used to it. You also get a lot more done so last time I did it we would work shorter days.

Does my post history suggest to you I am an LLM?

Not really, LLMs do not push back on design decisions and will happy continue with whatever prompt you throw at them. That’s after we look past quality isssues.

“Your absolutely right…”

It could push back more, true. Although it's role in pair programming is the driver, you are the navigator. I often begin a session with exploring and asking it questions of the code as I would a junior developer.

Saves this old man from typing anyway.

That’s not pair programming as I use it. Pair programming is where two people work on the same code directly and bounce ideas or critique each other.

If I do something that is not ideal the other person will catch me, and I do the same in return. I kinda see it like rock climbing.

This is how I always did it too. When the whole does it every day, juniors don't stay junior for long!

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