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It doesn’t have to be, really. Even if it could replace 30% of documentation and SO scrounging, that’s pretty valuable. Especially since you can offload that and go take a coffee.
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I think the 'better than googling' part is less about the final code and more about the friction.

For example, consider this game: The game creates a target that's randomly generated on the screen and have a player at the middle of the screen that needs to hit the target. When a key is pressed, the player swings a rope attached to a metal ball in circles above it's head, at a certain rotational velocity. Upon key release, the player has to let go of the rope and the ball travels tangentially from the point of release. Each time you hit the target you score.

Now, I’m trying to calculate the tangential velocity of a projectile from a circular path, I could find the trig formulas on Stack Overflow. But with an LLM, I can describe the 'vibe' of the game mechanic and get the math scaffolded in seconds.

It's that shift from searching for syntax to architecting the logic that feels like the real win.

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The downside is that you miss the chance to brush up on your math skills, skills that could help you understand and express more complicated requirements.

...This may still be worth it. In any case it will stop being a problem once the human is completely out of the loop.

edit: but personally I hate missing out on the chance to learn something.

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That would indeed be the case if one has never learned the stuff. And I am all in for not using AI/LLM for homework/assignments. I don't know about others, but when I was in school, they didn't let us use calculators in exams.

Today, I know very well how to multiply 98123948 and 109823593 by hand. That doesn't mean I will do it by hand if I have a calculator handy.

Also, ancient scholars, most notably Socrates via Plato, opposed writing because they believed it would weaken human memory, create false wisdom, and stifle interactive dialogue. But hey, turns out you learn better if you write and practice.

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