Get the latest tech news

Essence and accident in language model-assisted coding


In 1986, Fred Brooks posited that there was “no silver bullet” in software engineering—no tool or process that would yield an order-of-magnitude improvement in productivity. He based this assertion on the division of complexity into that which is essential to the problem being solved, and that which is an accident of the way in which we solve the problem.

None

Get the Android app

Or read this on Hacker News

Read more on:

Photo of language model

language model

Photo of essence

essence

Photo of accident

accident

Related news:

News photo

AI's $344B 'Language Model' Bet Looks Fragile

News photo

No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering (1986) [pdf]

News photo

Train a 70b language model at home (2024)