@charette "You are right, your web apps are currently not reachable from outside. Let me reconfigure your firewall, and publish your IP address"

@charette
Decades ago, we had a similar narrative around the GUI. "Now any secretary can manage the company server!" The GUI is obviously here to stay, but it didn't exactly replace IT professionals.

We saw the same massive hype a few years ago with 3D printing supposedly replacing all manufacturing. People were posting things like, "I printed a plastic gnome; I am The Manufacturer now!" We all had a good laugh, but my 3D printer is humming away right now making a part for a hobby project -- even if it hasn't disrupted global supply chains.

LLMs are just the next tool. They make us incredibly productive, but they won't magically teach someone how the internet works or how to deploy an app outside of localhost.

Honestly, I see no reason to laugh at people like the guy in the screenshot. They're exploring and building things. They might become professionals one day, or they might just keep it as a hobby. Either way, the tool is doing its job.

@burbilog Guess I have a different opinion. I've been doing network programming since the 1980s. Which is why to me someone pushing out a URL containing "localhost" sounds funny.

As for LLMs, I don't think they are a silver bullet. [Frederick P. Brooks] The same way a screwdriver doesn't make every person a mechanic, or a scalpel makes anyone a surgeon.

I guess I'm "old school". I don't mind using an LLM to help me look something up, but I'm not ready to put 100% of my trust into it to solve all coding tasks, or turning out maintainable non-trivial code.

Especially when the person holding the scalpel has zero training as a brain surgeon.