This sentence from the article really stuck out to me.
> and you write the rule down so clearly that nobody (human or otherwise) has to guess again.
Writing rules, or steps, unambiguously in a high level language and having those statements translated to lower level languages, that ultimately get executed by a machine, is what compilers do.
The commands you gave were not unambiguous at all and although an LLM would produce a result, the result would definitely be nonsense.
"make me a budget, here is 6 months of credit card receipts"
For example, a valid budget requires some knowledge of expected income...
>For example, a valid budget requires some knowledge of expected income...
i forgot my golden rule of never giving examples or using analogies while on HN because people hyper focus on nitpicking the specifics of the example/analogy rather than the overall point being made.
amend my example to "make me a budget, here is 6 months of credit card receipts, and i make somewhere around $60k per year".
Actually I was really happy you included an example because it demonstrates just how hard is it to make a rule so clear that no one has to guess again. It requires adding all the detail and addressing all the nuance and before you know it, you're programming again. The structure of the language is irrelevant.
> i forgot my golden rule of never giving examples or using analogies while on HN because people hyper focus on nitpicking the specifics of the example/analogy rather than the overall point being made.
Yes, this is a real problem. It is also directly against the guidelines.
> Writing rules, or steps, unambiguously in a high level language and having those statements translated to lower level languages, that ultimately get executed by a machine, is what compilers do.
And it definitely is not what LLMs do, even if you pepper your rules with “NEVER, ever deviate from these rules”.
This sentence from the article really stuck out to me.
> and you write the rule down so clearly that nobody (human or otherwise) has to guess again.
Writing rules, or steps, unambiguously in a high level language and having those statements translated to lower level languages, that ultimately get executed by a machine, is what compilers do.
The commands you gave were not unambiguous at all and although an LLM would produce a result, the result would definitely be nonsense.
"make me a budget, here is 6 months of credit card receipts"
For example, a valid budget requires some knowledge of expected income...