ProgrammerHumor

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Discussion

AibofobicRacecar6996

But those 15 minutes of a repetitive task feel like 15 hours.

2 days ago
Mindless-Hedgehog460
:c:

Or the 2 hours spent writing the script feel like 10 minutes

2 days ago
cjbanning

Both.

2 days ago
Piisthree

Plus, the unspoken potential cost of errors when 15 minutes of drudgery is done by hand.

2 days ago
juklwrochnowy

My python automation on the other hand has never made an error!

1 day ago
Piisthree

Right, if it's only wasaay better and not perfect we shouldn't do it. I see the light now.

1 day ago
Rich_Side3975

But the script will have unit tests. the manual task won’t.

2 days ago
WoodenNichols

Relevant XKCD.

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/is_it_worth_the_time_2x.png

2 days ago
dan-lugg
:kt::cs::g::j::p:

Also, relevant XKCD

https://xkcd.com/1319/

2 days ago
WoodenNichols

🤣

I forgot about this one.

2 days ago
rastaman1994

We use this all the time at work.

2 days ago
WoodenNichols

The comic? I've referenced it more than once...

2 days ago
rastaman1994

It's a really easy way to decide whether to automate or not, and to talk people out of the idea to automate.

2 days ago
_bluecalx_

Nice

2 days ago
No-Conflict8204

Do you need a chart to do that-> chart while youre on it, continuing the meme

1 day ago
Crumineras

Im not automating because its faster, im automating because i keep messing it up

2 days ago
gandalfx
:ts::py::bash:

But now, with my new buggy script, I can mess it up faster!

2 days ago
lucidspoon
:cs:

I can publish and copy a new build faster than Azure DevOps. But I trust it way more than myself.

2 days ago
bedrooms-ds

This is why I overuse my ansible.

2 days ago
ThePabstistChurch

Dude I wish this was the case. Where i am working people have been doing the same tasks that take hours for 10 years and they could be automated in a month

2 days ago
_bluecalx_

But you've learned something new and had fun.

2 days ago
hulkklogan
:ts::py::bash:

But now i can make AI do it but fuck it up and it'll take me 30 minutes instead of 15

2 days ago
humblevladimirthegr8

This but unironically. AI is pretty good at writing scripts. It takes a couple of attempts but I can generally get it working in 30 minutes which pays for itself quickly. Even for a one off task I'll often want to make mass modifications to the result later which is easier to do with a script.

2 days ago
hulkklogan
:ts::py::bash:

i actually agree just was being funny. I currently am working on some type changes in one file that gets called basically everywhere and having AI write a quick script to go update the various types vs trying to figure out the best ast-grep pattern and stuff is super helpful.

2 days ago
bedrooms-ds

I don't know about people but Copilot is especially great when I want to reimplement something without copyright infringement.

2 days ago
[deleted]

[deleted]

2 days ago
humblevladimirthegr8

That study focused on giant codebases, which sure it'll be hard for AI to understand all that just like it takes a human along time to learn how to navigate that codebase. For small scripts the speedup is undeniable

2 days ago
hulkklogan
:ts::py::bash:

I saw that the study is being heavily criticized. I think it's like anything new, it slows you down until you get the hang of it.

Some of the most senior guys at the company are raving about how productive they are with AI, but I bet they've been tinkering in spare time and know how to prompt adequately to produce decent enough results that corrections don't take so long. Maybe depends on use-case too, they're most often using it to build out tools and scripts rather than production code.

2 days ago
dazzaboygee

Make it then put it on github.

Who knows how many people might have the same weird specific problem.

2 days ago
neo-raver
:cp::py::rust:

I don’t think people understand; some people like programming, and making a general computer task into a programming problem makes the task more fun, efficiency be damned! (source: I am “some people”)

2 days ago
OBOO800

Yep. This is exactly it, I would much rather spend an hour programming than 15 minutes on a boring task, and it probably ends up being more efficient anyway, because if I just did the task I'd end up procrastinating it for ages.

21 hours ago
Anaxamander57
:py::rust:

Speak the Holy Creedo: If you have to do it more than twice automate it.

2 days ago
at_hand

I once created a python script for compiling documents on parallel using latex. Huge waste of time, but man was it worth it.

2 days ago
bnl1
:c::hsk:

Wait. Why not just use Make?

1 day ago
moonblade89

The problem with tasks youll never need to do again, is youll be asked to do them again in the near future

2 days ago
Madcap_Miguel

I've done this on my own time at home, used it once at work, became frustrated I wasted time on it a year later and nuked it, only to realize I needed/could use some of that in another project.

So I rewrote it, it's not a waste of time even if it's just an exercise in problem solving.

2 days ago
clearision

i play Factorio to scratch that itch

2 days ago
MGateLabs

Hey, sometimes it pays off. We’ve been struggling with signing up for volunteering, because everything gets taken instantly. We even tried having 3 people helping at the same time, but no success. So I suffered a bit with chrome dev tools, watch the api calls for the previous week and coded up a client. Next time the app works and a signed up for every day.

2 days ago
Agent_Specs

The other day I wrote a program to find all the whole numbers between two selected numbers and calculate the mean. It was for another program I was making to help make the process easier, not faster, easier. I realized I could just use the two numbers I was already given and still get the same answer. I then deleted the program

2 days ago
MasterQuest

But what if though, right?

2 days ago
Elvis5741

When the task has to be repeated atleast 9 times its worth it

2 days ago
WrongdoerIll5187

AI makes this kind of a moot point. I for one am glad I never have to shell script by hand again but it completely upends this meme. My instinct to script everything is finally correct.

2 days ago
PrinzJuliano
:ts::sw::kt::g:

What do you mean „resisting“? there is no way I‘m not trying to

2 days ago
milk-jug

Two hours? Amateur. Try 18 hours then double it.

2 days ago
gostek37
:cp::gd::bash::py::cs::gml:

But programming is fun!!
Repetitive tasks not!!!!

2 days ago
LoudAd1396

You guys are resisting that urge?

1 day ago
baim_sky

I'm in this picture and I didn't like it

2 days ago
DT-Sodium

I've been doing a stupid daily task that could easily be automated for the past 5 years soooooo.

2 days ago
HovercraftOk7822

why would i change the extensions of the 50 files, and their config one by one by hand. that would take 20 min, it has been a week and i am still writing that bash script....

2 days ago
gandalfx
:ts::py::bash:

Bullshit, I never resist that urge.

2 days ago
Embarrassed_Rent8830

And if you do need it again, you unfortunately can't find it anymore. 😔

2 days ago
affablebowelsyndrome

And if you don't write it, you'll need to do it again within six weeks.

2 days ago
cheezballs

At work I'll do that. At home I just hope I remember how to manually put everything in place, which of course I dont.

2 days ago
GarythaSnail

Sometimes it's more about documenting the process through code.

2 days ago
Percolator2020
:ftn::unreal::c::kos:

The opposite is worse: let me manually edit the headers and some variable names in this CSV, I’ll probably never do it again, instead of slightly modifying my script.

2 days ago
bedrooms-ds

15min? I used to do it for those with 3 seconds!

2 days ago
Croused

Listen... you can't predict the future.

1 day ago
Swimming-Marketing20

Wait, you guys resist those ? I never did, to the point they created an entire position "Senior cloud automation specialist" and now it's my job

1 day ago
dj184

Just did that yesterday. Half day spent on a task that takes 10 mins of manual work every week.

1 day ago
ArisenDrake
:kt:

Do I KNOW for sure that I won't have to do it again?

We have an old program for evaluating employee performance (this is for bonuses and mandated by law). It's ancient PHP (running on 8.4 though). Updating the employee database is hell, so I made a python script to do it (parsing a CSV file, fetching more data etc.). I was promised that for next year, they'd be done implementing a new, external software that also handles that. That was 5 years ago.

1 day ago
ruined_blue_balls

"in case I need to do it again"
Obviously makes sense 🙃

1 day ago
muhammet484
:unity:

lmao this is so true

1 day ago
X-Heiko

That's a weird way of writing "days".

22 hours ago
OBOO800

Writing code for an hour is faster than procrastinating the boring tasks for three weeks

21 hours ago
Herbertcules

Becoming a senior is doing that 15 minutes task 20 times and going "fuck I'll just make it a script"

19 hours ago
PrincessRTFM
:cs::perl::js::lua::ru::bash:

it's our enrichment

13 hours ago
Repulsive_Car6167

Its like retirement

4 hours ago