2
Creator of TypeScript: 10x Faster Typescript, Why AI Won't Replace SWEs (www.youtube.com)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/typescript@programming.dev
comment fedilink hide all child comments
 

Anders Hejlsberg is the creator of TypeScript and C#, and I asked him about how the TypeScript compiler got 10x faster through a rewrite in Go and his thoughts on how AI has impacted software engineering.

no comments (yet)

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
there doesn't seem to be anything here
6 comments in c/programming@programming.dev view that post
[–] 12 points 2 months ago

Does anyone really believe that "AI" can replace sex work experts?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
    •
    [–] 2 points 2 months ago (4 children)

    Screw youtube. A tldw maybe?

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 12 points 2 months ago* (3 children)

    00:00 Intro
    00:48 Why write a compiler in JavaScript
    07:29 Why rewrite the compiler in Go
    14:49 LLMs for large migrations
    20:12 Why Javascript is so popular
    26:32 Why ever use Javascript on the backend
    32:59 What it takes to build a programming language
    37:06 Will there be fewer languages in 10 years
    42:57 Hands on engineering vs delegation
    49:14 Why fast tooling matters more now
    51:16 AI software engineering predictions
    58:52 The most technically challenging work
    01:02:04 Top book recommendation
    01:03:50 Advice for his younger self
    01:05:00 Outro

    Just summarizing the title teasers:

    10x faster by switching from JavaScript to Golang. Rust was not feasible because it does not have a GC/does not support circular dependencies, and they have many of those, and did not want a rewrite but a minimal effort switch.

    AI may produce a lot more code, but what code does "90% of code" refer to. AI is not capable of novel or complex stuff, you still need humans in the loop. Juniors remain significant to train them into seniors.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 3 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 2 months ago

    AI is not capable of novel or complex stuff,

    This seems to be both untrue and mostly irrelevant.

    The recent FLT proof is clearly complex and novel.

    But also a huge amount of programming is only barely complex and not really novel at all.

    The biggest issues I've seen with AI so far are:

    • The slop comments are just painful to read. I think this might mostly be Claude though, I recently switched to Codex and it's way less annoying.
    • It is so benchmaxxed to "succeed at all costs" it will often do stupid things just to make the test pass or whatever. To be fair a lot of humans are like that - "I dunno but it seems to work" attitude.
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent