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The Dev and the AI

So, it's been a few weeks since I left my last contract, and while I am waiting for the Bat Signal, I am investigating Rust.

I have been a C#/TS developer forever and although I've briefly put on some Java pants, I've not really changed much.

Rust is great, its a memory safe, cross-platform, compile to machine code language so its fast, you can write code for Windows, MacOS, Linux and others ... and WebAssembly which means it can run in a browser! oh my.

Thing is, it's hard to get started on your own with a new language, and in the past this has been a blocker for me. I want to move on to the "biz" logic which is the interesting bit, and this is where AI comes in.

"Code Assistance [AI] is like having a weird intern who memorized the docs"

I've got a few on staff

  • GitHub CoPilot
  • Bing CoPilot
  • Bard

Generally it goes like this..

10 REM plan what I want to do, which patterns to use
20 REM ask on of the interns, perhap provide a C# example
30 REM pick throught the response, visit recommended websites, try and work out what it should be, add my own bit
40 COMPILE C
50 IF C = 9 THEN 70
60 REM find out the intern is halucinating?
70 INPUT "Tired? Hungry?" Q
80 IF Q = "Y" THEN END
90 GOTO 20

Anyway, overall I have to say that AI coding assistants are fun and helpful.

Learning the basics of Rust has opened a world up to me that I will be exploring for a while more, without help I would never have done.

It brings down the barriers of syntax and means that a developer, is a developer ... with a experience in certain languages, yes ... but a developer none the less.

The important bit of being a programmer is to be able apply appropriate patterns and techniques to solve problems.

Like being human is the same no matter what language we speak. (are you slowly standing and beginning to clap yet? Do it, before some else does!)

This entry was posted on LinkedIn

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