Yet another Hacker News

Jonathan Blow – If AI Solved Coding, Why Is My Software Still the Same? [video]

49 points helloplanets 1 hour ago 19 comments

rafaelRiv 46 minutes ago | parent

It is not the same, it is worst. Nothing seems functional nowadays

onlyrealcuzzo 37 minutes ago | parent

> Nothing seems functional nowadays

It also wasn't functional before-a-days [=

brink 13 minutes ago | parent

Now we have the added benefit of nobody understands it.

ChrisLTD 11 minutes ago | parent

There’s AI chat bots bolted into every app now, so there’s that

_aavaa_ 40 minutes ago | parent

The video does actually answer its own title, which is refreshing.

And I agree, it’s because organizations and people haven’t changed (yet, if you’re being positive) what it is they’re optimizing for and how they do work. AI gives you more of what you want and gives it faster, that doesn’t on its own change the culture or goals of a company.

ch4s3 37 minutes ago | parent

A thousand times this. A lot of people are discovering that coding was never the bottleneck in their orgs and don't know what to do differently.

bsenftner 26 minutes ago | parent

The communication skills to create the synchronized understandings necessary for teams of any moderate size to operate in concert is not there. Communications are everything when it comes to collaborations at any level, and we as an entire civilization are weak at this aspect. This effective communication necessity.

coffeebeqn 12 minutes ago | parent

Also AI don’t seem to make communication better, worse if anything. I’m so sick of the whole team not understanding what is going on with Claude written docs and tickets

ogogmad 20 minutes ago | parent

The more code, the more worry; the more workers, the more theft; the more AI, the more sorcery; the more flesh, the more worms.

The ancients knew it all along!

sumtechguy 12 minutes ago | parent

That also is dependent on the company and who works there. Some companies are meeting heavy. A meeting for every little decision. Some are not. Some are paperwork heavy and you need to fill out the form to do anything. Coding is like the 4th or 5th on the list of things that get done. Handed to the most jr of devs to 'just figure it out'. Some companies are just not software companies but they have enough of it that they needed but do not care about it. They only care enough to get their hardware out the door. AI in this case only changes when software is done and how. Not all of that other stuff. Such as have you checked in today during your standup and that your story is progressing?

andrewstuart 11 minutes ago | parent

>> coding was never the bottleneck

What utter twaddle.

I’m old enough to remember pre AI programming and it very very much was the bottleneck.

ido 10 minutes ago | parent

> old enough to remember pre AI programming

So old enough the remember the ancient times back in 2023?

nathanfries 7 minutes ago | parent

I think it was indeed the bottleneck, however the assumption that "coding is the bottleneck" was baked into how organizations were measured, optimized, staffed for the last couple of decades.

tracerbulletx 35 minutes ago | parent

Good supporting evidence for this is that it is changing your software dramatically if you're making your own personalized software to replace subscription software. That works incredibly well. Also there are some examples of companies doing huge swings they wouldn't have done without it like the AWS emulator that just came out.

the_sleaze_ 13 minutes ago | parent

People just haven't figured out the tools yet.

I'm doing truly astounding - stupefying - levels of work. Others on my team are actively resistant to my advice but the C Suite isn't.

The numbers are shooting up and to the right but people don't want to get on board. It's too much too fast.

clarle 6 minutes ago | parent

I think that's really the key for the most productive individuals I've met.

A lot of things that I've paid for subscription services in the past I've just replaced with personalized software for myself. It's not something I would ever release publicly for others to use because I'm sure there's a million edge cases that wouldn't work for a broader audience, but it's perfect for me and saves me a ton of money.

guhidalg 3 minutes ago | parent

This is just like in woodworking and jig making. Sure you can buy a pre-made jig, but you can now just 3D print (vibe code) one that's good enough and is uniquely made for the way you work.

Does this mean that jig makers out there are out of business? Sort of, they need to sell jigs complex enough that you wouldn't want to / be capable of making.

datadrivenangel 22 minutes ago | parent

I find Jonathon Blow to be insufferable, but this is a good talk with good opinions.

dominotw 14 minutes ago | parent

I was talking to my friend yesterday about what exactly has AI changed for us. Our lives are still the same( actually worse from job loss anxiety). If this tech is so revolutionary how come nothing in my life has changed positively.

My friend is in managment at faang and he said ai has changed how tech coders now behave at work. he is enjoying the fact that "their tails have been cut by AI". Made his management job infinitely easier.