I always try and keep in mind that we typically think of software as having three versions -- alpha, beta, and release -- but for it's considered even kind of "finished."
In my own work, this often looks like writing the quick and dirty version (alpha), then polishing it (beta), then rewrite it from scratch with all the knowledge you gained along the way.
The trick is to not get caught up on the beta. It's all too tempting to chase perfection too early.
I have a co-worker who has spoken excitedly about creating AI-generated music. I listened to him talk (and some brief music clips) and didn't tell them I have no interest in it, because he seems passionate about it. But it does not interest me.
My point is, though, it occurred to me why he's excited about it. He has no ability whatsoever to write music in notes, or song lyrics. But with his tool, he's able to make music that he finds decent enough to feel excited about helping to shape it.
No criticism to those who can't do a thing on their own, but are excited to be able to do it with a tool. And yes, you can certainly elaborate on and debate craftsmanship, and the benchmarks and measures of quality of an end result when made through expert skill and care, or by amateurs with a powerful (and perhaps imperfect or imprecise) tool.
So personal anecdote, using generative code has not interested me personally, because I love writing code, and I'm very good at it, and I'm very fast. Of course machines can do things faster than me (once I learn the different skill of prompting), but speed hasn't really been a massively limiting factor for me when trying to build things. (There are lots of other things that can get in my way!)
I'm reminded of the oft used quote, "He who can, does; he who cannot, teaches" - George Bernard Shaw. (Just, now the teaching is that of a machine, who then does.)
There's one interesting phenomenon that I noticed in myself and others with generating music with AI. You develop this kind of outsized emotional connection with it, even though your contribution to the 'work' was minimal, the fact that you saw this (arguably not) new 'thing' come into being creates an atypical bond. Not that it's 'mine' but that it's this beautiful thing.
So you (or in this case I) get all excited about how fantastic it is, but others that hear it are just kind of 'meh'. The only way I know this is listing to songs shared in that same exuberance by others, and to me they are 'meh'.
I shared this sentiment with some folks and one person said 'yeah, you should try writing your own music sometime...same thing happens' xD
Yeah, seriously. I've seen musicians nearly come to blows over tube vs solid state amps. Music has even more anger associated with brands and technique than gaming or tech. It's just not flooding the algos like AI currently is
I'm so tired of this kind of design -- that basic dev tool splash page/Tailwind-y/Shadcdn UI thing that's just seemingly everywhere nowadays. It's so basic and tired, like Material Design without any of the little bits of personality that make it decent.
Give me some life and color and personality, damn it.
I hear you and it's coming up next. I needed/wanted to lay ground work for stuff that's easier to tweak to match your own branding. Many Rails apps are similar in niche so I tried to compensate on that front.
Fully disagree. First, I question the value of something merely enduring. But that aside, implicit in what you're saying here is that the "skill of the swing," so to speak, doesn't matter, whereas only the quantity of swings is what matters. Baseball players clearly negate this.
I'm with you. I've said it before, but: LLMs have made clear who does things for the process, and who does things for the result (obviously this is a spectrum, hardly anyone is 100% on either end).
The amount of people who apparently just want the end result and don't care about the process at all has really surprised me. And it makes me unfathomably sad, because (extremely long story short) a lot of my growth in life can be summed up as "learning to love the process" -- staying present, caring about the details, enjoying the journey, etc. I'm convinced that all that is essential to truly loving one's own life, and it hurts and scares me to both know just how common the opposite mindset is and to feel pressured to let go of such a huge part of my identity and dare-I-say soul just to remain "competitive."
I'm a former film/game composer turned programmer, and you basically just outlined what I hope to be my life's work :p Each and every one of these is a white whale for me, and is something I'm working on in one way or another.
Get in touch if you'd like to chat more about this stuff (my email is in my profile).
In my own work, this often looks like writing the quick and dirty version (alpha), then polishing it (beta), then rewrite it from scratch with all the knowledge you gained along the way.
The trick is to not get caught up on the beta. It's all too tempting to chase perfection too early.
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