AI Coding assistants provide little value because a programmer's job is to think
a year ago
- #AI
- #Software Engineering
- #Programming
- Written code is a poor representation of a running program, missing critical runtime considerations.
- JavaScript example highlights issues like implicit dependencies, environment specifics, and execution flow.
- AI coding assistants generate code that looks correct but lacks understanding, requiring verification.
- AI-generated code is often wrong for non-trivial tasks and harder to verify due to incoherent assembly.
- Modules, documentation, and open-source projects provide better alternatives with context and abstractions.
- Programming is about understanding and reasoning, not just writing code—AI fails at the thinking part.
- Linus Torvalds emphasizes understanding the meaning of code over just debugging line by line.