I have been saying this about llms for a while - if you know what you want, how to ask for it, and what the correct output will look like, LLMs are fantastic (at least Claude Sonnet is). And I mean that seriously, they are a highly effective tool for productive development for senior developers.
I use it to produce whole classes, large sql queries, terraform scripts, etc etc. I then look over that output, iterate on it, adjust it to my needs. It's never exactly right at first, but that's fine - neither is code I write from scratch. It's still a massive time saver.
> they are a highly effective tool for productive development for senior developers
I think this is the most important bit many people miss. It is advertised as an autonomous software developer, or something that can take a junior to senior levels, but that's just advertising.
It is actually most useful for senior developers, as it does the grunt work for them, while grunt work is actually useful work for a junior developer as a learning tool.
Precisely -- you have to be experienced in your field to use these tools effectively.
These are power tools for the mind. We've been working with the equivalent of hand tools, now something new came along. And yeah, a hole hawg will throw you clear off a ladder if you're not careful -- does that mean you're going to bore 6" holes in concrete ceilings by hand? Think not.
> It is advertised as an autonomous software developer
By a few currently niche VC players, I guess. I don't see Anthropic, the overwhelming revenue leader in dollars spent on LLM-related tools for SWE, claiming that.
> I don't see Anthropic, the overwhelming revenue leader in dollars spent on LLM-related tools for SWE, claiming that.
Are you sure about that? [1]:
> "I think we will be there in three to six months, where AI is writing 90% of the code. And then, in 12 months, we may be in a world where AI is writing essentially all of the code," Amodei said at a Council of Foreign Relations event on Monday.
"How to ask for it" is the most important part. As soon as you realize that you have to provide the AI with CONTEXT and clear instructions (you know, like a top-notch story card on a scrum board), the quality and assertiveness of the results increase a LOT.
Yes, it WON'T produce senior-level code for complex tasks, but it's great at tackling down junior to mid-level code generation/refactoring, with minor adjustments (just like a code review).
So, it's basically the same thing as having a freelancer jr dev at your disposal, but it can generate working code in 5 min instead of 5 hours.
I use it to produce whole classes, large sql queries, terraform scripts, etc etc. I then look over that output, iterate on it, adjust it to my needs. It's never exactly right at first, but that's fine - neither is code I write from scratch. It's still a massive time saver.