Bc22

@esrtweet absolutely inspiring to see you "still" coding Sir

My life has changed this week. There's finally an AI coding tool that's good enough to keep up with me. It's called "Aider". It's a front end that knows how to talk to any model that speaks the standard JSON API, and knows how to work git, and has been cleverly and effectively prompted to behave like someone you are pair-programming with. In the last four days I have used Aider to vibe-code a non-trivial web application - a manager for a public database of capabilities about a certain class of hardware. I'm being a bit coy about this because I don't want to announce it before I have it fully ready for production, and it's not there yet - I need to do initial population of the product database and run a bunch of tests before I'm willing to let the public beat on it. But... Aider did a pretty good job magicking up an entire running web application from my original description. It has since written two moderately complex test and utility scripts to go with the server, and I'm routinely telling it to generate significant chunks of code and getting something that is not only testably correct but easy to read. Part of this is probably down to me choosing good tools that are popular enough for it to have seen a lot of code in them. Python and the Flask web framework in this case, with SQLlte's Python bindings for the database backend. Part of it is down to me writing good prompts, I think. Decades of programming experience equips me well to specify what I want crisply. But even with these tailwinds I'm finding Aider/Sonnet's performance quite impressive. It's open-source, has obviously had a lot of thought and good design put into it, and is even well documented. It still has the problem to some extent that I've noticed with LLMs in general. It doesn't have much design sense. It knows how to emulate good code by pattern matching, but it doesn't know, for example, that you really ought to encapsulate all your SQL access stuff into a class with methods rather than having exposed query generation all mixed up with your business logic. But it's my job to supply the design sense. I'm still learning more about how to prompt it in ways that convey that. In the meantime, it is more than good enough for most boilerplate code. And it's good at spotting errors - one of the things that routinely does is ask you if you wanted to lint the code, and if you tell it yes about one in three times it's going to find a minor error that probably would have taken you a lot longer to spot. It can even - gasp! - write decent documentation. When I add a user-visible feature I tell it to update the manual, and it's done a passable job every time. It can't write as fluently and concisely as I can, but most humans can't manage that either, and what it does write is good enough to get the job done. So, my workflow is permanently changed now. Going back to coding without AI would be plain stupid - it makes me much faster and delivers constant correctness checks. I haven't found the limits of what it can do yet. Two big things I'm going to ask it to try, once I have the database populated enough, is writing end-to-end tests and CSS-styling the website. Which right now has a brutally functional 1990s look that is not going to fly for production in this century. Of course I also have on my to-do list composing a prompt that tells an LLM to do the product research needed to add a device to the database. We'll see how that goes. This website is also a social-engineering hack. But I'll write about that part when I have it on a public site where y'all can see it. So, if you write code and you can run Python programs, grab a copy of Aider and check it out. It's going to rock your world.

Some of the greatest concerts in Rock History. I open thread 🧵 1. Metallica in Moscow (1991)

@JDVance Jd talk like a peasant as he is

I hate this smug, self-assured bullshit. "I know I'm right, and people must be dumb or immoral to disagree with me." It's an easy way to go through life, because then you never have to think seriously about why your worldview is a justification for the mass invasion of the country my ancestors built with their bare hands.

@paulg I would say culture revolution is more appropriate

We need an optimistic collective name for all the new Trump policies to help improve morale during the (not actually) temporary pain and destruction they'll cause. How about "Great Leap Forward"?

@WhiteHouse It is a shame. Imagine this came out of Chinese government

DO NOT RETALIATE AND YOU WILL BE REWARDED

@paulg What differentiate mega from other trump voter?

A story in two graphs. Americans believe Trump will make them poorer, so his approval rating has plummeted.

@joecarlsonshow Pattern of a sucker

A day ago Chamath defended the harsh tariffs on China. Now that a huge portion of them are removed he will defend them being removed and explain how this was a great strategic move. If they were doubled, instead of removed, he would explain doubling them is the best move. Do you see the pattern here?

@amuse Just by the look of this lady you can tell she is low intelligent

CHINA: Senator Moody is right. Since the Chinese Communist Party has enacted a law requiring all Chinese students abroad to participate in intelligence gathering, the United States should immediately stop issuing student visas to Chinese nationals.

@reidhoffman @GoogleDeepMind Cliche. Could be spoke by any regular folks

"We are entering a new era of coding." Nobel Prize Winner and @GoogleDeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis on coding with natural language.

@nxt888 Woo eloquent

Donald, you just gave the world another reason to never trust a deal with you. One breath, it’s 125%. Next breath, it’s 10%. Today it’s "effective immediately," tomorrow it’s "paused." Who negotiates with a weather vane? This isn’t strength—it’s instability. No serious country bets its future on the mood swings of a man who treats global trade like a slot machine. You talk about "lack of respect," but what exactly are you showing the world? Discipline? Honor? Predictability? You’ve reduced the U.S. position to a coin toss between tantrum and concession. That’s not policy—it’s pathology. Let’s be clear. China didn’t "rip off" the U.S.—you handed over your industrial base willingly. You outsourced for profit, gutted your own working class, and blamed the mirror. China built. You speculated. China planned. You printed. And now, because the empire can no longer compete, you threaten like a drunk gambler blaming the table. Your "pause" isn’t mercy—it’s leverage gone limp. You had leverage, once. But after years of burning bridges, tearing up treaties, bullying allies, and contradicting yourself every 48 hours, all you’ve proven is this: You’re not a partner. You’re not even a reliable enemy. You’re an unstable liability in a collapsing system. And the world sees it. You say 75 countries called you. But they didn’t call you because they trust you—they called because they’re trapped in a global system your empire built, and they’re trying to survive it. They don’t retaliate because they don’t want the kind of instability you export. Not respect—fear. Not cooperation—hostage management. So the real question is: who in their right mind would make a deal with someone who talks like this? One minute it’s war, the next it’s "thank you for your attention." You don’t sound like a leader. You sound like a warning. History won’t remember this as strategy. It’ll remember it as the moment the empire started speaking in tongues—loud, erratic, and irrelevant. China won’t bend to your incoherence. No civilization that’s survived 5,000 years gets lectured by one that can’t even survive one election cycle without civil breakdown. And when your 90 days run out and nothing moves, you’ll blame China again. But deep down, you know what this is. You’re not punishing China. You’re projecting your own decay. We see it. The world sees it. And you can't tariff your way out of decline. @realDonaldTrump

@paulg You are intelligent until this post lol

Trade wars often turn into real wars. I wonder if this is the point where China blockades Taiwan.

@BulwarkOnline Circus.

Leavitt April 8, 2025: Trump is not considering an extension or delay on tariffs. Leavitt April 9, 2025: Trump is putting a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs.

@BillAckman @realDonaldTrump Art of sucker

This was brilliantly executed by @realDonaldTrump. Textbook, Art of the Deal.

@TrumpDailyPosts Fucking idiot

Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately. At some point, hopefully in the near future, China will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable. Conversely, and based on the fact that more than 75 Countries have called Representatives of the United States, including the Departments of Commerce, Treasury, and the USTR, to negotiate a solution to the subjects being discussed relative to Trade, Trade Barriers, Tariffs, Currency Manipulation, and Non Monetary Tariffs, and that these Countries have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form against the United States, I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter! Donald Trump Truth Social 04/09/25 01:19 PM

@awkwardgoogle It’s unsafe and unnecessary

In Japan, whenever a vehicle stops to let children cross, the children in return thank the driver with a sweet gesture. 😊

@RpsAgainstTrump Greatest comedian all time. Just canceled my Netflix. Keep it coming mr Trump.

Trump: “I’m telling you, these countries are calling us up, kissing my ass. They are dying to make a deal. ‘Please, please, Sir, make a deal. I’ll do anything. I’ll do anything, sir.”

@USTradeRep @POTUS This is pretty dumb.

In honor of @POTUS' historic trade action, USTR is spotlighting another 10 unfair trade practices faced by American exporters. 1/10: Over 100,000 Chinese-made American flags are sold every month on just one e-commerce platform alone, resulting in $2 million in lost sales for American manufacturers, which ultimately leads to lost job opportunities and business closures. American flags should be Made in America! Read the below thread for more.

@atrupar typical lol

Leavitt: "When America is punched, he punches back harder. That's why there will be 104% tariffs going into effect on China tonight at midnight. But the president believes that Xi and China want to make deal, they just don't know how to get that started."

@SpencerHakimian Trump either dont understand China or just bluff himself

Trump threatening an additional 50% tariff on China starting at midnight on Wednesday. We are 36 hours away from 105% tariffs on China. RIP to the economy.