Get AI code generation tools to create correct Elixir code, or else

You are giving both of these tools too much credit.

As @D4no0 mentioned, generating code just so you can get started with task X is not such a huge deal as people make it out to be. Emacs and VIM have had “snippet managers” for decades where you press a particular combo of keys and e.g. get a function with a for-loop over a list written for you.

GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT are better in that for sure – but not by much.

98% of all commercial programming is reading, understanding and modifying code. Improving the 2% that are the writing of the initial code is not impressive by any stretch of the imagination.

And finally, having something generate bigger scaffolds for you comes with the severe disadvantage that you might not understand that initial code and then you’ll lose more time first trying to understand it and then actually extending it or even using it on a basic level.

19 Likes