Post #2030979

2026-05-05 16:11 UTC

@gwozniak @jpetazzo @regehr @aburka They *don't* need expert level in everything, that's the whole point. To pick an example, crontab syntax is an inscrutable mess, but I've only ever had to add an entry like twice, ever. If I was mostly a sysadmin/devops person where I managed that stuff constantly, yeah, I'd invest in internalizing that, but I'm not.

Replies (2)

@aburka@hachyderm.io 2026-05-05 16:13

@malwareminigun @gwozniak @jpetazzo @regehr I know you just picked a random example but maybe it's illustrative: there's no reason to use the statistics machine for that as there are purpose built deterministic solutions such as https://crontab.guru/

Open ##2030980
@gwozniak@discuss.systems 2026-05-07 04:27

@malwareminigun @jpetazzo @regehr @aburka Just to be clear, I don't think expert level is needed either. It's just that the systems seem to be designed in a way that require it. And, from what I've seen at least, devs have to deal with a lot of systems all the time. I guess I'm wondering why. I don't know the answer, nor am I trying to be snarky. To take the crontab example, how did we get to the point where doing the seemingly simple thing of setting a timer requires knowing arcane syntax? That's a line of questioning I'd be interested in studying, to be honest. It's clear that LLMs are helpful for what exists now. It's also pretty clear that LLMs are an incredibly inefficient way (notwithstanding the ethical considerations) to get there.

Open ##2130265