percent

joined 11 months ago
[–] percent 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Can you provide evidence the "more efficient" models are actually more efficient for vibe coding? Results would be the best measure.

Did I claim that? If so, then maybe I worded something poorly, because that's wrong.

My hope is that as models, tooling, and practices evolve, small models will be (future tense) effective enough to use productively so we won't need expensive commercial models.

To clarify some things:

  • I'm mostly not talking about vibe coding. Vibe coding might be okay for quickly exploring or (in)validating some concept/idea, but they tend to make things brittle and pile up a lot of tech debt if you let them.
  • I don't think "more efficient" (in terms of energy and pricing) models are more efficient for work. I haven't measured it, but the smaller/"dumber" models tend to require more cycles before they reach their goals, as they have to debug their code more along the way. However, with the right workflow (using subagents, etc.), you can often still reach the goals with smaller models.

There's a difference between efficiency and effectiveness. The hardware is becoming more efficient, while models and tooling are becoming more effective. The tooling/techniques to use LLMs more effectively also tend to burn a LOT of tokens.

TL;DR:

  • Hardware is getting more efficient.
  • Models, tools, and techniques are getting more effective.
[–] percent 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to imply that consumer-grade hardware has gotten more efficient. I wouldn't really know about that, but I assume most of the focus is on data centers.

Those were two separate thoughts:

  1. Models are getting better, and tooling built around them are getting better, so hopefully we can get to a point where small models (capable of running on consumer-grade hardware) become much more useful.
  2. Some modern data center GPUs and TPUs compute more per watt-hour than previous generations.
[–] percent 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

They don't need the entire project to fit in their token windows. There are ways to make them work effectively in large projects. It takes some learning and effort, but I see it regularly in multiple large, complex monorepos.

I still feel somewhat new-ish to using LLMs for code (I was kinda forced to start learning), but when I first jumped into a big codebase with AI configs/docs from people who have been using LLMs for a while, I was kinda shocked. The LLM worked far better than I had ever experienced.

It actually takes a bit of skill to set up a decent workflow/configuration for these things. If you just jump into a big repo that doesn't have configs/docs/optimizations for LLMs, or you haven't figured out a decent workflow, then they'll be underwhelming and significantly less productive.


(I know I'll get downvoted just for describing my experience and observations here, but I don't care. I miss the pre-LLM days very much, but they're gone, whether we like it or not.)

[–] percent 6 points 1 month ago (16 children)

I wouldn't be surprised if that's only a temporary problem - if it becomes one at all. People are quickly discovering ways to use LLMs more effectively, and open source models are starting to become competitive with commercial models. If we can continue finding ways to get more out of smaller, open-source models, then maybe we'll be able to run them on consumer or prosumer-grade hardware.

GPUs and TPUs have also been improving their energy efficiency. There seems to be a big commercial focus on that too, as energy availability is quickly becoming a bottleneck.

[–] percent 69 points 1 month ago (6 children)

If only they knew that LLMs would soon take over as the new energy hog in the spotlight

[–] percent 2 points 1 month ago

Generally, I would never put much weight into an article with an exclamation mark in the headline.

[–] percent 1 points 2 months ago

In some languages, all nouns are gendered, and it's impossible to refer to a noun without a gender. There is no "it", only (s)he.

If you ever learn a language like that, you will make mistakes. If someone hears your mistake, hopefully they'll be more forgiving about it than you are.

[–] percent 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Suburbanites are terrified of strangers and cities because they can't fathom not driving a 4-ton SUV to a parking lot as a precursor to anything in life.

Lol is this some new form of prejudice that I was unaware of? 😂

Edit: on second thought, I've heard some "rural" people use the term "city slickers", so maybe it's not so new 😆. I suppose people will always look for some way to separate themselves from others

[–] percent 3 points 2 months ago
[–] percent 1 points 2 months ago

No. That would require too many jars, and seems like a waste of ammo.

[–] percent 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

No it was something else. IIRC, Bitchat is more useful for public communication. It seems similar to Meshtastic; they support both public and private messaging

[–] percent 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

I saw someone mention that Bitchat would be a better fit for their situation than Briar. I'm not really familiar enough with either to know for sure, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to install both

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