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Ask HN: Last time you wrote code?

5 pointsblinkbat15 comments

do you keep up with writing syntax? do you do it as a hobby or try to weave it into work? do you do it from scratch or only when it's easier than prompting?

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A few hours ago. I am learning a new language (rust) so I disabled auto complete and AI suggestions. Otherwise AI becomes more of a distraction than a booster.

But for languages I am more confident (like JS and dart), I usually don't write code and only review it.

If it is a throw-away project (like I am only experimenting something or just need something for one time), I don't event look at the code and only focus on the outcomes.

Interesting, I just decided (well 2 days ago) that I want to learn Rust myself. What resource are you using to learn?

I am using Rust By Example Book. https://doc.rust-lang.org/stable/rust-by-example/

Thanks, I appreciate your sharing this info.

I usually write code every day but right now I don't have anything important to do. I started writing a graphical text editor / IDE as i wanted to do some GUI stuff, which I never did. But my heart is not in it, so i just randomly write few lines here and there. I am not burnt out, just lack sufficient motivation at this time. But generally i code every day. I had a 6m break from coding 3 years ago and i definitely noticed that I forgot quite a lot of stuff. Although I was back on the horse in few days. But at least I know that the knowledge is not eternal and needs to be constantly engaged.

Any time the autocomplete doesn’t understand what I’m trying to accomplish, so several times per hour.

LLMs will repeat the patterns they see, and I’m trying to whip a legacy codebase into decent shape before the next phase of feature growth, so no fully generative coding for anything beyond tests and throwaways until that’s done.

And TBH, while I adore neither having to type out the nits of syntax nor having to remember the details of certain APIs, I still get far more enjoyment from working at the code level than the prompt level. So a good AI autocomplete makes for very enjoyable and productive coding.

A couple of hours ago. I do it when I need a small change and already know ~exactly what I want to type (which happens frequently), or when I get fed up with the yapper (which happens a couple times a day).

I'm learning my first lisp (emacs lisp), for learning a language I don't want any assistance whatsoever or it'll never stick. I'm just learning it for the pleasure of understanding it so I'm not actually trying to build something fast.

btw; Lisp is poetic and if you've never learned one, you should!

October 2024. Every line of code since then has been written by AI.

There hasn’t been a quarter before then that I haven’t written some type of code since early 1987

Tuesday. I tried prompting the latter half of this week, but found it incredibly unfulfilling. I’ll be writing code again on Monday.

for work? with all the tools the company provides, only when it’s faster than prompting. so friday.

September 2024. I’ll never write a line of syntax again. First it was Cursor now it’s Claude.

I still regularly write stuff myself to stay in practice, because I suspect as some point, some bubble will burst, and I will not have access to the quality of agentic tooling I have today .

So, today.

asking because it popped into my head that I hadn't really wrote (or edited more than a few lines of) code in quite a few weeks.

just now.

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