posted in Technology
Linus Torvalds used AI to fix a Linux bug, and now LLM critics on Linux face an uncomfortable choice
lists.debian.org/debian-project/…/msg00041.html
www.xda-developers.com/linus-used-ai-bug-llm-critics-face-choice/
Replying to @themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com
It’s interesting to see AI being used for something as practical as debugging a Linux issue. I think the bigger question is how much developers can rely on AI without losing their understanding of the underlying code. AI can clearly speed things up, but human review still seems essential.
Replying to @Moztako@lemmus.org
It’s especially essential to mark the code as AI generated. AI makes mistakes just as humans do. Problem is AI makes different kinds of mistakes than humans.
A human will tend to forget to do something they were supposed to do. An AI will do a bunch of unnecessary shit.
Also you can tell that a human didn’t put a lot of thought into some code (no comments, sloppy variable names) so you’re more likely to say “yeah ok, I used to make that kind of mistake when I was younger” and just fix it. AI generated code will have all kinds of comments which normally makes you more hesitant before making a change. It looks like someone really thought through what they were doing, but in reality it’s something generated by an LLM and no real thought was given to the code.
Replying to @SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca
Also you can tell that a human didn’t put a lot of thought into some code (no comments, sloppy variable names)
Why is your code so messy that it needs comments everywhere? Comments should pretty much be reserved for special cases anyway
Replying to @boonhet@sopuli.xyz
Would that be cases be where you’re doing something that might appear a little odd, but there is a reason for it to be that way? So if you see something that looks a little odd and there’s a comment explaining it, wouldn’t you be more likely assume that there’s a reason for that code to be that way and it’s probably intentional and not a bug?
And “self documenting code” is just something we say because we don’t want to be bothered with writing comments, if we’re being honest.