Can chatbots write code? Yes, but should you use it?

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PUBLIC DEFENDER By Brian Livingston You’ve heard a lot about “chatbots” that can answer search queries and write essays that sound like some human had
[See the full post at: Can chatbots write code? Yes, but should you use it?]

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fisher75, DLivesInTexas, geekdom, rc primak

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Well, the AI code can’t be any buggier than MS Updates, first round each month!

-- rc primak

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In the very near future, all computer code will be created using plain English.

Any language is rife with miscommunication. To translate from English language with its idioms and idiosyncrasies to a computer language where precision is necessary and demanded to obtain exactly the necessary code, is at least a two-step process.

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There are levels of computer languages, from natural language, down through interpreted code, to machine code and hex code. Most present-day command-line computer coding is done using interpreters or compilers, not direct machine language or hex. At least one interpretation step is involved here.

Moving a level or two upward, we get the commands and skills of personal assistants and smart speakers, like Siri and Alexa. These assistants have rule sets built on top of interpreted code languages. Two (maybe more) steps in these cases.

So it isn’t too big a leap for AI to allow us to code and specify code using our natural languages. But like any coding operation, we need to be able to debug and test the results.

Intellectual Property rights when AI collects, recombines and rearranges code written by humans are a different issue. Who actually owns computer code? In Linux, the code is owned by a community, not by individuals. You make money not by owning code, but by providing services and support (and sometimes by selling optional value-added updates, as Canonical does with Ubuntu Pro). Closed-source code is owned, and patent trolls can sit on code and charge royalties for copying and reusing it. So how AI coding fits into this landscape is complicated and evolving.

-- rc primak

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