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Commit 06fc0df

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Ask HN: Time to read those programming books?

4 points by blinkbat 15h ago | 9 comments

jjice 14h ago
I find that LLMs can write poorly structured code if not given a good foundation to do so. The existing code in a repo is what the LLM will see and generally output similar code to.

Given that, I'd recommend the mainstays on good general software design. One of my favorites is "A Philosophy of Software Design" by John Ousterhout. Good general design practices.

Other than that, I think a lot of books generally stay relevant. If it's topic specific, it'll give you a good background on understanding of that topic so you can make sure you or an agent are making sound decisions. Architecture of course is more valuable than ever.

hackermailman 14h ago
Will we even read code once AI just generates platform native executable binaries using a blackbox AI optimized compiler we have no access to?

Seems we will be writing programs using some kind of logical formal methods[1] and generating the code without ever looking at it and testing the system properties. I imagine AI will make its own intermediate programming language that benefits it the most instead of human readability

[1] https://forge-fm.github.io/book/2026/

platevoltage 8h ago
Has anyone stopped to think why are we doing this to ourselves?
vismit2000 3h ago
'Code' by Charles Petzold
kooi 14h ago
Design Patterns by Gamma et al.

Recently helped me solve a non-obvious code-stink design issue.

platevoltage 13h ago
Respectfully, I don't understand this way of thinking. You learn and get better at programming by programming. Now we are using LLMs to write the code to the point where we need to assign ourselves homework to keep our skills?

Why not just use the LLM in a way that doesn't prevent us from absorbing the knowledge?

blinkbat 13h ago
yes, you get better _at programming_, specifically your own programs, and in a general sense. but is there a way to hone the reading of code that is not yours?

> Now we are using LLMs to write the code to the point where we need to assign ourselves homework to keep our skills?

yes!

> Why not just use the LLM in a way that doesn't prevent us from absorbing the knowledge?

the economic viability of this is unproven in our new future.

platevoltage 8h ago
> yes!

I guess my follow up question is why? Maybe my brain works differently (in fact, I know it does), but I don't absorb a whole lot from a book, or a tutorial until I do it myself. I figure I might as well write the code itself, or at the very least, use the LLM iteratively, and make sure I understand every single thing that it writes.

vegnus 14h ago
obligatory SICP