✧✦Catherine✦✧ on Nostr: i've been mulling over the claim that "genAI is just like {compilers, LSPs, ...} ...

i've been mulling over the claim that "genAI is just like {compilers, LSPs, ...} because it improves productivity also! they're just abstractions of 2025!"

and, sure, this is true at least in the facile and mostly useless "lines of code produced" sense. but that's also irrelevant. I'm not using the Rust compiler because generating thousands of lines of assembly otherwise would be too slow! I'm using a Rust or C compiler, a typechecker, an LSP, other such tools to decrease vigilance. the fact that the C compiler pays attention to the ABI for me means I never have to consider it again. that is the true value of the abstraction they provide; the selling point is the confidence that frees me from having to review shit.

consider also the extreme trust issues that a misbehaving compiler gives people who use it.