Ask HN: Anyone here still writing code for reasons other than fun or learning?

8 comments

• austin-cheney 1 hour ago
  I am building Aphorio. I am wrapping up work on a new universal proxy rule convention designed for simplicity, speed, and maximum flexibility. It already has the fastest WebSocket library that can push messages at a speed of 6,000,000 per sound on a single socket in a memory unsafe way or 800,000 messages per sound in a more conventional way.

  The app is entirely written by a human without AI in TypeScript. I am writing this because data integration is a ridiculously expensive commercial market ripe for disruption. There are so many companies that get hooked into automation solutions like MuleSoft only to bleed cash and beg to get off of it but don’t know how.
• SwellJoe 6 hours ago
  Sure, there are times in a familiar codebase that it would take Claude or any model longer to get its bearings and chew on all the random nonsense it wants to think about even for small changes than it takes me to open vim and make a one line change.

  And, sometimes, I know models will write it in a way I don't like, over-engineering is common.

  But, I mostly use models for more than few lines of code or code that isn't in a familiar project.

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  • czhu12 5 hours ago
    Yeah that’s why I put in “meaningful”, I’ve done one liners but these days I barely do that, it’s almost easier to ask the model to find the files
• codingdave 2 hours ago
  Yes. I work on legacy systems where the training data was minimal. The code that I get back from the LLMs is confused - it pulls objects and methods from other languages, makes up APIs that don't exist, etc. It also doesn't understand the bigger picture of what all is possible in the system, so it gives me over-engineered code that could be done really simply using other tools.
• quantbuilder 4 hours ago
  I don't code at all now, but I did before, in trading and algo development. I was never a very good coder, but I put in the effort to get the job done. Later I hired and worked with developers on algos and software, until AI coding got good enough that my own output with AI overtook the devs I worked with. It didn't happen right away. It took me a while to get up to speed, alongside the models getting better, but that's been the real transition for me.
• jraph 6 hours ago
  > I can’t find a reason to anymore that’s actually necessary

  The huge environmental and societal cost of LLMs, maybe?

  Why do these questions implying writing code is a thing of the past keep coming?

  Anthropic pretend in their S1 filling that they spend $3B in marketing, there's no need to help them really.
• d3Xt3r 8 hours ago
  Yes, mostly at work. But that's mainly because we're an MSP and our clients have a no-AI policy, but even otherwise, I don't imagine our clients will be very happy with us running agents against their systems/data or introduce unvetted slop into the environment.

  At home, I manually create utility apps for personal and family use using niche languages like GAMBAS (a VB6 clone), and I've found that AI isn't really good at it. Besides, with the kind of simple utilities I make, it's far more easier to just do it myself than to fight with the AI (and then there's also the issue of long-term maintenance - if it's something I coded, it's far more easier for me to fix it, update it etc than to rely on AI for eternity).

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  • wallneradam 3 hours ago
    I've designed a few languages of my own, it doesn’t get more niche than that. And models handle them surprisingly well, even ones from a year ago. The trick is to give the model a short cheatsheet of the syntax and some link to docs. Today I would create a skill for that. Might be worth trying with GAMBAS too. It is sad that GAMBAS is niche these days, it was very popular back in 2000s.
  • ronistrom 3 hours ago
    I build erp addons and module rewrites for clients and I barely type code anymore. Your clients' worry is right one, but in my experience it's also solvable usually. I've built tools to allow only read-only access to client ERPs and other enterprise systems and also giving agent's their own credentials and identity so work done by them across the application landscape is auditable.
  • czhu12 5 hours ago
    Why use niche languages if you don’t mind me asking?
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    • d3Xt3r 5 hours ago
      Because they're quick/easy/fun. My main requirement was a RAD environment to quickly spin up GUI apps for my family - apps which are reasonably small and memory efficient (so no Java / Electron etc).

      In the case of GAMBAS, I originally picked it up because I missed the days I used to code in VB6. I recall chruning out small utilities like it was no big deal (and I was still in school at the time)! So GAMBAS, as a spiritual successor to VB6, was a natural choice for me - and it's also cross-platform, which is great because some of my family members use Linux, whereas others use Windows.

      Before GAMBAS I used to use Delphi, which had a similar RAD environment with Lazarus. But Lazarus is a bit clunky, compared to the polished experience of Embarcadero Delphi (which is Windows-only, unless you pay for cross-platform). So when GAMBAS came along, I first played around with it just for fun, but then over the course of time it became pretty solid and capable, so I switched to it full-time for my GUI needs.
• justnisar 5 hours ago
  Jobless and interviewing, hence I am writing some code.
• nitbard 6 hours ago
  [dead]