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In recent years, AI has strongly entered almost all areas of technology, and software programming has been no exception: tools like GitHub Copilot or Cursor, based on advanced language models, have transformed the way software developers write code.
However, this is giving rise to a growing debate about whether these kinds of tools are causing a degradation of the capabilities of programmers.
Pros: Productivity
One of the strongest arguments in favor of using tools like Copilot is that they increase programmer productivity by automating repetitive tasks and reducing the time spent writing code.
Experienced users say that, when used correctly, Copilot is an excellent tool that saves time, especially for generating repetitive codeor to suggest quick solutions to common problems.
As one user on Reddit says,
“Copilot is an incredible time saver… if you already know what you’re going to write.”
According to this point of view, experienced programmers see these tools as support that allows them to focus on the most complex and creative parts of development, while AI takes care of the most tedious details. In this way, Copilot does not replace the skills of the developer, but rather complements them.
Against: Dependency and degradation of skills
Despite these benefits, a recurring criticism is that reliance on AI can weaken fundamental skills of programmers, especially among younger or less experienced developers.
In the words of programmers who work with novice coworkers, excessive use of Copilot impedes the development of the ability to solve problems autonomously and is generating ‘professionals’ who simply copy and paste generated code without fully understanding it:
“(My colleague) just does what Copilot suggests…he doesn’t really know what he wants to do.”
“I’ve seen people use double loops instead of optimized methods because they just assumed that what ChatGPT generated was fine.”
There is a fear that new programmers will become more passive and less likely to approach problems innovatively, because they simply wait for AI to solve everything.
Against: “Technical debt as a service”
In line with this last testimony, another central concern is the quality of the code generated by AI. Although AI can produce quick solutions, these are not always the best from a software architecture point of view.
Some programmers have begun to refer to this trend as ‘technical debt as a service’, referring to the accumulation of future problems due to suboptimal programming decisions that must be corrected later.
“The fact that tools like Copilot generate so much generic code is problematic, since the cost of programming is not in the creation, but in the maintenance“.
Keep in mind that the AI does not have a complete understanding of the context or the objectives of the project, which could lead to generating solutions that, although functional, are not the most optimal.
But even when AI can generate efficient code, it is not always the cleanest or most understandable. This can lead to the production of “spaghetti code”difficult to maintain and scale.
In other words, whether AI generates code that is insufficiently efficient or when it is insufficiently comprehensible, developers will have to spend time reviewing, debugging and improving it in the long termwhich can create more problems than it solves.
Pros: Accelerated learning
Despite these criticisms, there are also programmers who consider that these AIs, when used correctly, may be priceless as an educational tool, as they would be revolutionizing the way in which programmers learn, allowing instant access to explanations and examples that Previously they would have required extensive searches on Google or Stack Overflow.
“Those who leverage AI correctly will be able to learn faster and deliver better results.”
So tool or replacement?
One of the points that most participants in this debate seem to agree on is that Copilot and other AIs should never be seen as a replacement for the skills of the programmer, but rather as a tool that facilitates only certain aspects of their job. However, It is essential that programmers continue to develop their skills problem solving and deep understanding of the code.
Via | reddit
Image | Marcos Merino through AI
In Genbeta | Cursor, the code editor with integrated ChatGPT, freemium and based on VS Code
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