First off, there's a lot of people shooting off their mouths - ignore anyone who hasn't used ChatGPT extensively: it takes some training to learn to use it.
Several senior developer friends have been using ChatGPT quite a bit and it seems to work well in lots of places:
- isolated algorithms and fiddly bits - it writes complex SQL statements in seconds, for example. LLMs should makes quick work of fussy config files.
- finding, diagnosing and fixing bugs (just paste the code and error message - really!)
- unit tests and examples
- comments and documentation
Professional developers will recognize that we're talking 50-90% of the LABOR-HOURS that go into software development, and therefore fewer developers to get the same work done. Sure, we just do more - but then we quickly hit other speed limits, where coding isn't the problem. I can see layoffs among the bottom-N% of developers, while more sophisticated developers add LLMs to their toolbox and use this productivity to justify their high $/hour.
I see AI writing code that casual human readers don't really understand, but this is OK because the AI includes comments -- just like developers do for each other today.
Several senior developer friends have been using ChatGPT quite a bit and it seems to work well in lots of places: - isolated algorithms and fiddly bits - it writes complex SQL statements in seconds, for example. LLMs should makes quick work of fussy config files. - finding, diagnosing and fixing bugs (just paste the code and error message - really!) - unit tests and examples - comments and documentation
Professional developers will recognize that we're talking 50-90% of the LABOR-HOURS that go into software development, and therefore fewer developers to get the same work done. Sure, we just do more - but then we quickly hit other speed limits, where coding isn't the problem. I can see layoffs among the bottom-N% of developers, while more sophisticated developers add LLMs to their toolbox and use this productivity to justify their high $/hour.
I see AI writing code that casual human readers don't really understand, but this is OK because the AI includes comments -- just like developers do for each other today.