I've found the same effect when I ask the LLM to do the thinking for me. If I say "rewrite this function to use a list comprehension", I don't retain anything. It's akin to looking at Stack Overflow and copying the first result, or going through a tutorial that tells you what to write without ever explaining it.

The real power I've found is using it as a tutor for my specific situation. "How do list comprehensions work in Python?" "When would I use a list comprehension?" "What are the performance implications?" Being able to see the answers to these with reference to the code on my screen and in my brain is incredibly useful. It's far easier to relate to the business logic I care about than class Foo and method Bar.

Regarding retention, LLMs still doesn't hold a candle to properly studying the problem with (well-written) documentation or educational materials. The responsiveness however makes it a close second for overall utility.

ETA: This is regarding coding problems specifically. I've found LLMs fall apart pretty fast on other fields. I was poking at some astrophysics stuff and the answers were nonsensical from the jump.

> It's akin to looking at Stack Overflow and copying the first result, or going through a tutorial that tells you what to write without ever explaining it.

But if you're not digesting the why of the technique vis a vis the how of what is being done, then not only are you gaining nothing but a check mark in a todo list item's box, but you're quite likely introducing bugs into your code.

I used SO yesterday (from a general DDG search) to help me learn how to process JSON with python. I built up my test script from imports to processing a string to processing a file to dump'ing it to processing specific elements to iterating through it a couple of different ways.

Along the way, I made some mistakes, which were very helpful in leveling-up my python skills. At the end, not only did my script work, but I had gained a level of skill at my craft for a very specific use-case.

There are no shortcuts to up-leveling oneself, my friend, not in any endeavor, but especially not in programming, which may well be the most difficult job on the planet, given its ubiquity and overall lack of quality.