> The real power of these tools is that there are so many ideas people would like to try, but never have the time or motivation to pursue.
This can be a negative multiplier: code I thought I wanted that gets immediately abandoned is a net-negative if no one else wants it (lets face it, this is the safest default posture for software of unknown providence).
In isolation, instant-abandonware takes up hdd space, burns dependabot's CPU-cycles, and wastes human attention when appearing in search results. In aggregate, it floods the zone with a deluge of forks with imperceptible differences between them, based on nit-picks, legitimate stand-out products will have a much harder time going forward.
You made me do a double take with "providence". I think the word you wanted is "provenance", which comes from latin "provenire" (pro -> forth, venire -> come). English has too many similar words.
Unless you only run code that's protected by God. That's probably not a bad policy if you can verify it.
edit: Oh right, there's an OS for that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TempleOS
> This can be a negative multiplier: code I thought I wanted that gets immediately abandoned is a net-negative if no one else wants it (lets face it, this is the safest default posture for software of unknown providence).
obviously not ? negative result is still a result, just like in science. It adds new information ("approach X does not work" / "is useless") which is the only thing that matters
Not every engineering effort is a product in search of market fit or a community.
Some things are already very useful as just a one shot. I just made a quick app to help me pack for a trip, it updated forecasts every day, let me know when rain entered the forecast at one of my stops and gave me a checklist that helped me quell my travel anxiety.
The greatest thing that LLMs have done is allow many to achieve things that they couldn't have before. I'm incredibly disinterested in "I can do the same thing I was already doing x% faster"
> Not every engineering effort is a product in search of market fit or a community
I think you misunderstood my point: by "legitimate stand-out products", I meant exactly that, with no connotation of commercialization. Maybe you can agree that having a high signal-to-noise ratio for (open source) projects is a desirable goal?
> Some things are already very useful as just a one shot.
I agree. I too have made or forked about a dozen apps and tools in the past few months. It would be dishonest not to consider the flipside, that this software is overfitted to the needs of a single person. Further, this hyper-bespoke software typically feature-complete within moments of the final prompt, and I have,on occasion, completely forgot about the tool/app I spent a weekend created, it clearly wasn't worth the effort I put in.
> The greatest thing that LLMs have done is allow many to achieve things that they couldn't have before.
Let's not pretend there isn't a cost to this.