whatdoesthiscodedo.com

AI

code explanation

SHOW HN2023

186points
128comments
#307of 3,109 in 2023
Top 10%of 2023 by points

How HN took it

MixedNo clear lean

15 positive, 18 neutral or asking, 10 mixed, 36 critical, out of 79 comments about the project. Thread score -0.22.

Execution: 6 for, 15 againstPerformance: 5 for, 10 againstIdea: 1 for, 7 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 4 againstPricing: 1 for, 0 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Explanations are often accurate and impressive for common code

    From 4 comments
    • I'm surprised and impressed. Given this code, which is probably obvious to a human who knows the context, I did not expect a clear and accurate "answer" from this tool. ``` h1s =…
      michaelteter on HN
    • I've tried it on a few of the wtfjs examples, and it explains the snippets surprisingly well, sometimes even better than the original explanations!…
      julioc on HN
    • I'm surprised and impressed. I pasted in the BF hello world example code and it actually parsed it and wrote it out very clearly. https://whatdoesthiscodedo.com/g/b928d0f Well…
      upon_drumhead on HN
    • Correctly identifies some 3D game code: ``` float x = Mathf.Cos(time * frequency) * amplitude; float y = Mathf.Sin(time * frequency * 2) * amplitude * 0.5f; float z =…
      ffhhj on HN
  • Useful for catching bugs such as a memory leak

    From 1 comment
    • Pleasantly surprised at it catching a memory leak: https://whatdoesthiscodedo.com/g/28d19ac
      clevedotoner on HN

Objections

  • Explanations are often wrong or miss logic, and break when function names change

    From 5 comments
    • Amazing toy! It shows a wonderful demo about how we can use GPT during coding. However, it also shows the limitation of a language mode: it doesn't really do logic thinking. Like…
      alanhaha on HN
    • This is neat! I like it. In classic chatgpt fashion you can easily trick it if your function name is wrong however. For example, https://whatdoesthiscodedo.com/g/ab146f8…
      xmcqdpt2 on HN
    • I used it on a very simple ray triangle intersection function, which at first it did surprisingly well. But then I changed the name of the function to something completely…
      ar9av on HN
    • Impressive. Interesting how it gets some things so close, but pretty wrong ``` if (c.length === 8) { return new Color3( parseInt(c.substr(0, 2), 16) / 255, parseInt(c.substr(2,…
      qiller on HN
    • Breaking the model seems very easy - for ``` a = [1,2,3,True,'False',None] b = [2,3,4,5,!true] c = set(a) & set(b) ``` this is the explanation I was given: ``` The code defines…
      eithed on HN
  • Pasting work code into a third-party site is a privacy risk

    From 4 comments
    • It works pretty well! I would add a big red disclaimer such as: “be careful: putting here code source from your job is probably highly against the rules of your company, and you…
      scastiel on HN
    • I’m not putting my code on that! I can’t imagine anyone being allowed to upload production code
      matt3210 on HN
    • I like it. Bookmarked. Will use again for sure. As others have said, I was wondering what the privacy implications are, as I don't want to share what I paste there when it's code…
      exodust on HN
    • With all the hype and euphoria over ChatGPT, all we get is a site which is asking you to paste in code you probably copied internally from work or StackOverflow to give an opaque…
      rvz on HN
  • Learning tools like this bypass the struggle needed to learn

    From 1 comment
    • > As a developer, I much prefer to write code than read other people’s code Developers should review and learn from each others’ code, that’s how you progress. Even as a senior,…
      JTyQZSnP3cQGa8B on HN

Requests

  • Clarify privacy and data storage policy

    From 1 comment
    • I like it. Bookmarked. Will use again for sure. As others have said, I was wondering what the privacy implications are, as I don't want to share what I paste there when it's code…
      exodust on HN
  • Warn or detect sensitive data such as API keys

    From 1 comment
    • Thanks Sebastian! That's a good point. I've also thought about writing a classifier to detect sensitive information like API Keys or passwords. Let me see what I can add without…
      flurly on HN
  • More concise explanations that name algorithms and point out errors

    From 1 comment
    • This is a nice idea. I like it. It can certainly be confused by adversarial function and variable names or comments, but that is to be expected. I think maybe it's a bit verbose…
      vintermann on HN

Questions

  • How much does it cost to run and will it stay free?

    From 1 comment
    • This looks fantastic! I guess you're calling the recently announced ChatGPT APIs under the hood, just curious, how much is this costing you right now? Are you planning to leave…
      samspenc on HN
  • Does the site work in some browsers or with ad blockers?

    From 2 comments
    • The web page is not working for me, but I figured out how to access it anyways. I put the code: ``` /F ARGUMENTS 0 get (r) file def ARGUMENTS length 1 gt {F ARGUMENTS 1 get cvi…
      zzo38computer on HN
    • Interesting. I can’t reproduce. Is it consistent across browsers? Can you try turning off Adblock?
      flurly on HN

Alternatives named

  • Asking ChatGPT directly with a prompt

    From 1 comment
    • I think it should be general practice to include the prompts used for tools like this, so people can understand how they work and suggest improvements. The prompt used for this…
      rishabhjain1198 on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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