Random tidbit, I made this anemometer thing it collects data every second I think I'm at 20 million rows now since it's been running for years, what do I do with this data? nothing
It's not even calibrated to speed or anything I just have an ADC connected to a DC motor and logging the values/mapped to milliwatts via resistor value
I also had a solar cell but the coolest thing with that is seeing that bell curve or solar maximum
On the topic of personal software, I keep making note taking apps. I've made chrome extensions, mobile apps, Android widget, desktop app, etc... with multiple databases, end of the day it's just grabbing text, though recently I did go advanced and add in drag-drop image to base64 support (lazy) at some point I'm trying to unify all this data into one place with a sync mechanism
> Creating software is starting to resemble cooking. Your home-cooked software is exactly what you need, without extra fuss or cost. And each time you build something personal, you gain a deeper appreciation for the craft of creating software.
I think this is true, but it also actually requires you to want to make your own software. In cooking, most people are aware that they're physically capable of making a roast chicken with gravy and mashed potatoes.
Yet takeaway/delivery is thriving. It's not that the ability to cook is scarce, but the desire to do it. I think the same is (now) true with building software.
> We need more builders, not fewer. Because building fosters understanding. And as more people start making personal software, the bar for what counts as “great software” will inevitably rise.
Love this take. After over a decade of software development I've gained much more appreciation for well-built/useful products.
I don't think most people know customizing software is even a thing. I think it just doesn't occur to people.
I once heard an anecdote that being a welder makes you look at metal objects differently than non-welders. What a non-welder sees as rigid and inflexible a welder sees as able to be changed.
I think the view of software for programmers vs. non-programmers is similar.
Having said that, just as most people don't see the benefit to being a welder, most people aren't going to suddenly see the benefit of being a programmer.
Has anyone done experiments with people who have absolutely no programming or programming-like experience and see what they can come up with?
From my experiences, any output I got from "AI", required already some level of experience/understanding of the tooling or language to get something useful out of it.
I agree. I wonder if the author has actually tried to build their baby tracking software using AI? I suspect AI would turn out to be a lot less useful than hoped.
But there is a middle ground between writing your own code and buying an off the shelf app - no/low code tools. For example, you can use our Easy Data Transform software to drag and drop a data processing pipeline to turn data from one form to another, no need to learn (or ask an AI about) Python+Pandas or R. But this only an option if there is a tool fits your needs, off course.
I work for someone who uses Apple Shortcuts and Zappier to bridge things together, that's working with common stuff like transcribing to One Note or Notta to Notion
edit: they would use ChatGPT to ask questions/find direction but wouldn't actually use the code if any was given but I think if you're using say WP where you can just dump in random code via a plugin, people would try that
I can see something like Shortcuts/Zappier or some visual things to work quite well for non-programmers. After all, we've had lots of businesses using rule engines and visual editors to "program" their business logic for a long time.
I just don't see "AI" spitting out code and people just putting it somewhere and it all working just fine, without having to learn some of the basics first.
Maybe some highly integrated system could work, that does the doing for you, and users don't _have_ to deal with code and the tooling to run it. But those systems will again be quite limited, so questionable how "personal" it gets.
One thing I've used "AI" for multiple times already with little to no modification, is to write some one-off script to automate some basic repetitive task (e.g. batch converting something with ffmpeg). Can you call this personal software?
It is crazy what Zapier does. I learned Airtable's API myself and setting up the webhooks took me a bit where as it's just there for Zapier. Started to make me think which way is faster do it myself or use this bridge granted Zapier costs money but yeah.
So funny how things go we wanted to use Airtable now they're like "we want our own branded Airtable" and eventually we'll probably just go with a hosted DB like RDS anyway ahh well.
I'm running my own self-hosted n8n instance for basic automations, which has the added benefit that the OAuth and other credentials remain on my hardware rather than, somewhere in the cloud.
There still needs to be more user-friendly interfaces built on top of the raw AI materials. For many of my non-tech friends, the open text input for ChatGPT is intimidating. Yes, it can do everything, but they don't know the right questions to ask. We'll need better products that make app building more "consumer" feeling, versus understanding the intricacies of prompting.
I lean toward most people remaining generally apathetic. There are many DIY kits and guides for a great number of things that have done most of the hard work of designing, measuring, cutting, etc for you. My perception is that most people would still rather buy or use an already finished product.
Does the average person even use computers outside of desk workers at work now, anyway? Can you build and deploy an app with an iPhone/Android app?
I find it amusing how the idea of ordinary people programming is talked about like it was something new, only made possible today by Dissociated Press on steroids, and it was NOT the default in personal computing even into the 90s with things like QBasic, only to be quashed by vendors who saw more money in "information appliances", especially with the web and then mobile ascendant.
Yes, an app can be a home-cooked meal. Back in the day, we didn't feel the need to eat out all the time.
I haven't seen anyone with zero computer skill build apps but I've definitely started building and deploying apps outside my day job that I've been able to put together quickly with the aid of Claude artefacts or copilot. It's really exciting!
> Software can now adapt to you, not the other way around. Better yet, AI is making it possible for anyone, not just developers, to create single-use or custom applications.
Yeah, because that wouldn't be a customer service / troubleshooting nightmare.
> But within the next decade, millions of people will be able to create software. Designers, marketers, product mangers, and others will be the first.
Hahaha - clearly the author is young. All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.
AI writing code for you is a terrible way for a beginner to "make their own software."
We've already had solutions to this for years, it's called jamming a bunch of plugins on to a Wordpress site so it roughly does what the person wants it to do.
or perhaps remember Visual Basic?
Why does every god damn thing on the website need to be about how "AI will change everything"? You do realize we've had these tools since the 90s, right?
There's a reason only a small percentage of people are actually interested in making their own software. Most people just want to use the thing and be done with it, not tinker around with code.
How many people are making their own clothing? Clearly sewing machines are widely available, so they will surely create a revolution where everyone will make their own clothing! And yet - do you want to actually make your own clothing? No. You want to have time for other things, like making your own software.
Eh... While I agree in general, let's not compare dragging controls on forms and writing sometimes pretty arcane code incantations to writing a simple request in plain English.
Random tidbit, I made this anemometer thing it collects data every second I think I'm at 20 million rows now since it's been running for years, what do I do with this data? nothing
It's not even calibrated to speed or anything I just have an ADC connected to a DC motor and logging the values/mapped to milliwatts via resistor value
I also had a solar cell but the coolest thing with that is seeing that bell curve or solar maximum
On the topic of personal software, I keep making note taking apps. I've made chrome extensions, mobile apps, Android widget, desktop app, etc... with multiple databases, end of the day it's just grabbing text, though recently I did go advanced and add in drag-drop image to base64 support (lazy) at some point I'm trying to unify all this data into one place with a sync mechanism
> Creating software is starting to resemble cooking. Your home-cooked software is exactly what you need, without extra fuss or cost. And each time you build something personal, you gain a deeper appreciation for the craft of creating software.
I think this is true, but it also actually requires you to want to make your own software. In cooking, most people are aware that they're physically capable of making a roast chicken with gravy and mashed potatoes.
Yet takeaway/delivery is thriving. It's not that the ability to cook is scarce, but the desire to do it. I think the same is (now) true with building software.
> We need more builders, not fewer. Because building fosters understanding. And as more people start making personal software, the bar for what counts as “great software” will inevitably rise.
Love this take. After over a decade of software development I've gained much more appreciation for well-built/useful products.
I don't think most people want to customize their software based on how many years of the Linux desktop there has been.
I don't think most people know customizing software is even a thing. I think it just doesn't occur to people.
I once heard an anecdote that being a welder makes you look at metal objects differently than non-welders. What a non-welder sees as rigid and inflexible a welder sees as able to be changed.
I think the view of software for programmers vs. non-programmers is similar.
Having said that, just as most people don't see the benefit to being a welder, most people aren't going to suddenly see the benefit of being a programmer.
Let's just say that Linux is not a bastion of good user experience
For a certain class of users it is.
Has anyone done experiments with people who have absolutely no programming or programming-like experience and see what they can come up with?
From my experiences, any output I got from "AI", required already some level of experience/understanding of the tooling or language to get something useful out of it.
I agree. I wonder if the author has actually tried to build their baby tracking software using AI? I suspect AI would turn out to be a lot less useful than hoped.
But there is a middle ground between writing your own code and buying an off the shelf app - no/low code tools. For example, you can use our Easy Data Transform software to drag and drop a data processing pipeline to turn data from one form to another, no need to learn (or ask an AI about) Python+Pandas or R. But this only an option if there is a tool fits your needs, off course.
I work for someone who uses Apple Shortcuts and Zappier to bridge things together, that's working with common stuff like transcribing to One Note or Notta to Notion
edit: they would use ChatGPT to ask questions/find direction but wouldn't actually use the code if any was given but I think if you're using say WP where you can just dump in random code via a plugin, people would try that
I can see something like Shortcuts/Zappier or some visual things to work quite well for non-programmers. After all, we've had lots of businesses using rule engines and visual editors to "program" their business logic for a long time.
I just don't see "AI" spitting out code and people just putting it somewhere and it all working just fine, without having to learn some of the basics first.
Maybe some highly integrated system could work, that does the doing for you, and users don't _have_ to deal with code and the tooling to run it. But those systems will again be quite limited, so questionable how "personal" it gets.
One thing I've used "AI" for multiple times already with little to no modification, is to write some one-off script to automate some basic repetitive task (e.g. batch converting something with ffmpeg). Can you call this personal software?
I think any code is software/for you = personal
It is crazy what Zapier does. I learned Airtable's API myself and setting up the webhooks took me a bit where as it's just there for Zapier. Started to make me think which way is faster do it myself or use this bridge granted Zapier costs money but yeah.
So funny how things go we wanted to use Airtable now they're like "we want our own branded Airtable" and eventually we'll probably just go with a hosted DB like RDS anyway ahh well.
I'm running my own self-hosted n8n instance for basic automations, which has the added benefit that the OAuth and other credentials remain on my hardware rather than, somewhere in the cloud.
Surely the next prompt would be
> I pasted the code you gave me into my Wordpress and now when I refresh the page it’s just white. Why?
"Is there a line break at the end of your file?"
edit: I've seen this as a potential answer before
There still needs to be more user-friendly interfaces built on top of the raw AI materials. For many of my non-tech friends, the open text input for ChatGPT is intimidating. Yes, it can do everything, but they don't know the right questions to ask. We'll need better products that make app building more "consumer" feeling, versus understanding the intricacies of prompting.
I lean toward most people remaining generally apathetic. There are many DIY kits and guides for a great number of things that have done most of the hard work of designing, measuring, cutting, etc for you. My perception is that most people would still rather buy or use an already finished product.
Does the average person even use computers outside of desk workers at work now, anyway? Can you build and deploy an app with an iPhone/Android app?
I find it amusing how the idea of ordinary people programming is talked about like it was something new, only made possible today by Dissociated Press on steroids, and it was NOT the default in personal computing even into the 90s with things like QBasic, only to be quashed by vendors who saw more money in "information appliances", especially with the web and then mobile ascendant.
Yes, an app can be a home-cooked meal. Back in the day, we didn't feel the need to eat out all the time.
I haven't seen anyone with zero computer skill build apps but I've definitely started building and deploying apps outside my day job that I've been able to put together quickly with the aid of Claude artefacts or copilot. It's really exciting!
That's awesome. Yeah, I agree with your point about people without any computer skills. We're probably still years away from that reality.
> Software can now adapt to you, not the other way around. Better yet, AI is making it possible for anyone, not just developers, to create single-use or custom applications.
Yeah, because that wouldn't be a customer service / troubleshooting nightmare.
> But within the next decade, millions of people will be able to create software. Designers, marketers, product mangers, and others will be the first.
Hahaha - clearly the author is young. All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again.
AI writing code for you is a terrible way for a beginner to "make their own software."
We've already had solutions to this for years, it's called jamming a bunch of plugins on to a Wordpress site so it roughly does what the person wants it to do.
or perhaps remember Visual Basic?
Why does every god damn thing on the website need to be about how "AI will change everything"? You do realize we've had these tools since the 90s, right?
There's a reason only a small percentage of people are actually interested in making their own software. Most people just want to use the thing and be done with it, not tinker around with code.
How many people are making their own clothing? Clearly sewing machines are widely available, so they will surely create a revolution where everyone will make their own clothing! And yet - do you want to actually make your own clothing? No. You want to have time for other things, like making your own software.
> or perhaps remember Visual Basic?
Eh... While I agree in general, let's not compare dragging controls on forms and writing sometimes pretty arcane code incantations to writing a simple request in plain English.