I Program with LLMs

Reposted from original: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;crawshaw.io&#x2F;blog&#x2F;programming-with-llms" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;crawshaw.io&#x2F;blog&#x2F;programming-with-llms</a><p>HN discussion of original a few days ago: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=42617645">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=42617645</a>

I&#x27;ve been using LLMs the same way this past year. As a challenge to myself, I&#x27;ve implemented full-stack interview evaluations using languages and tools I&#x27;ve <i>never</i> worked with before and see what I can do. Using LLMs, it hasn&#x27;t taken me more than 50% longer to craft a solution as compared to my crafting one using tools and technologies with which I&#x27;m intimately familiar.<p>Some of that extra time was a result of learning the craft of using LLMs in this manner. With each new technology stack, that excess amount of time decreased.<p>Now, let&#x27;s be honest, you still have to have excellent development skills, and it helps immensely to have a good knowledge of software architecture and design. I say that to point out that non-developers could not achieve these results. In the right hands though, it can make you a lot more productive.

It works much better when you already know what you&#x27;re doing-- so you can ask for exactly the right thing, spot the LLMs errors, and know what you need to do to fix them rather than iterating forever with the hallucinating machine.<p>I can&#x27;t help but feel that while these tools speed everyone up they actually increase the difference between an expert and a novice rather than leveling the playing field.

Is it too much to ask for a &quot;How I use LLMs to program&quot; article not come from someone who is actively marketing their AI startup?

Just a quick note that the title is &quot;How I Program With LLMs&quot;, this is currently missing &quot;How&quot; which changes the meaning a bit, at least for me.

Me as well. But sometimes I like the hallucinations of aider and other tools and just let it iterate over and over and over. Kind of fun to see. But by no means a drop in replacement for actual knowledge.