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Comment by john_strinlai | Hacker News Reader

>Why not? Why can't faster typing help us understand the problem faster?

do you have a example (even a toy one) where typing faster would help you understand a problem faster?

Has everyone always nailed their implementation of every program on the first try? Of course not. Probably what happens most times is you first complete something that sorta works and then iterate from there by modifying code, executing, observing, and looping back to the beginning. You can wonder about ultimately how much of your time/energy is consumed by the "typing code" part, and there's surely a wide range of variation there by individual and situation, but it's undeniable that it is a part of the core iteration loop for building software.

I don't understand why GP's comment is so controversial. GP is not denying that you should maybe think a little before a key hits the keyboard as many commenters seem to suppose. Both can be true.

That kind of thinking pops up very prominently in the article.

Here's a literal toy one.

Build a toy car with square wheels and one with triangular wheels and one with round wheels and see which one rolls better.

The issue isn't "typing faster" it's "building faster".

No need to build three, you just have to quickly write a proof for which shapes can roll. You'll then spend x+y units of time, where y<<x, instead of 3*x units. We have stories that highlight the importance of thinking instead of blindly doing (sharpening the axe, $1 for pressing a button and $9999 for knowing which button to press).

> quickly write a proof for which shapes can roll.

Writing the 3 are the proofs.

Sometimes articulating the problem is all you need to see what the solution is. Trying many things quickly can prime you to see what the viable path is going to be. Iterating fast can get you to a higher level of understanding than methodical, deliberative construction.

Nevertheless, it's a tool that should be used when it's useful, just like slower consideration can be used. Frontier LLMs can help significantly in either case.

so, what i am gathering is that some people in this comment section read "typing faster" literally, while other people are reading it and translating it to "iterating faster".

"Code writing speed" is just a superficial dismissal of AI without consideration as to whether AI is being used well or poorly for the task at hand. Saying that AI is the same as making people type faster, or that AI only produces slop, etc, is a very self limiting mindset.

> do you have a example (even a toy one)

It's extremely common with video games. Lots of game design is done by seeing what something feels like and changing it or throwing it away, repeatedly.

I think UI can be this way a lot too.

I often understand problems by discussing them with AI (by typing prompts and reading the response). Typing or reading faster would make this faster.

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