Good decision.

AI programming is fundamentally different from programming and as such the discussions merit to have separate forums.

If r/programming wants to be the one solely focusing on programming then power to them. Discussing both in combination also makes sense, but the value of reddit is having a subreddit for anything and “just programming” should be on the list.

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JKCalhoun 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Sure, but if r/programming can't include the combination/hybrid then the whole subreddit is likely doomed to obsolescence.

That genie's not going back into the lamp.

(Heck, I've leaned on LLMs to generate damned SwiftUI code for me.)

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beej71 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There are groups for carpenters who only use hand tools. Obsolete and existing.

And, arguably, still useful to all.

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jaredcwhite 43 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sheer nonsense. Handcoding is thriving and will easily survive long into the future, especially after the bubble bursts (which is already happening).

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archagon 5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I mean, no, why would it be? There is so, so much to talk about in programming other than AI. Meanwhile, the current HN front page feels like 90% LLM spam: the complete antithesis of what I used to come here for.

I personally can’t wait for no-ai communities to proliferate.

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tolerance 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Taking your estimate as a superlative, it would be asinine for the community here to censor AI-targeted discussions in the way I think you'd like to. The same goes for a programming community that censors discussions about LLM programming.

You are basically asking for a brain drain in a field that—like it or not—is going to be crucial in the future in spite of its obvious warts and poor implementation in the present. If that's what you want, be my guest and encourage it; but who's authorized to unilaterally make that decision in a given forum?

In the present case, the moderators for r/programming are. But they're making a mistake by marginalizing the technology that's redefining the practice because people talk about it too much instead of thinking about how to effectively talk about it and then steering the community in that direction.

But that's a full-time job. Which is why I think HN may turn out alright in the long run or a similar community will replace it if it fails to temper the change in the industry.

What this decisions signals to me is that r/programming has been inert for some time. I'm sure plenty of programmers, irrespective of their position on AI, probably find the community rejoicing in their resignation to the technologies influence as their cue to finally exit.

	▲	ratrace 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		[dead]

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4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[deleted]

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redox99 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> AI programming is fundamentally different from programming

It's really not. Maybe vibecoding, in its original definition (not looking at generated code) is fundamentally different. But most people are not vibe coding outside of pet projects, at least yet.

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yoz-y 8 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Hopefully this does not devolve into ‘nuh-uh’-‘it is too’ but I disagree.

Even putting aside the AI engineering part where you use a model as a brick in your program.

Classic programming is based on assumption that there is a formal strict input language. When programming I think in that language, I hold the data structures and connections in my head. When debugging I have intuition on what is going on because I know how the code works.

When working on somebody else’s code base I bisect, I try to find the abstractions.

When coding with AI this does not happen. I can check the code it outputs but the speed and quantity does not permit the same level of understanding unless I eschew all benefits of using AI.

When coding with AI I think about the context, the spec, the general shape of the code. When the code doesn’t build or crashes the first reflex is not to look at the code. It’s prompting AI to figure it out.

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phpnode 5 hours ago | parent [-]

This is the same argument that people used to have against compilers

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archagon 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Compilers are an abstraction. AI coding is not an abstraction by any reasonable definition.

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phpnode 5 hours ago | parent [-]

You're only thinking that because we're mostly still at the imperative, REPL stage.

We're telling them what to do in a loop. Instead we should be declaring what we want to be true.

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arretevad 3 hours ago | parent [-]

You’re describing a hypothetical that doesn’t exist. Even if we assume it will exist someday we can’t reasonably compare it to what exists today.

	▲	phpnode 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It exists today, please message me if you’d like to try it

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hperrin 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It very much is. It’s more like telling an intern what to do and then reviewing their code. Anyone can do it, and it results in (mostly) slop.

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chneu 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>But most people are not vibe coding outside of pet projects, at least yet.

Major corporations have had outages thanks to AI slop code. Lol the idea that people aren't vibe coding outside of pet projects is hilarious.

	▲	hu3 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The idea that everyone using LLMs is vibe coding is equally hilarious.

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tasuki 8 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

They're not banning "AI programming": just specifically large language models.