I think this is more true now than ever. Before LLMs, when someone came up with an ADR/RFC/etc you had to read it because you had to approve it or reject it. People were putting effort and, yeah, you could use them in your next perf. review to gain extra points. You could easily distinguish well written docs from the crap (that also made the job of reviewing them easie)
Nowadays everyone can generate a 20-page RFC/ADR and even though you can tell if they are LLM generated, you cannot easily reject them based on that factor only. So here we are spending hours reading something the author spent 5 min. to generate (and barely knows what’s about).
Same goes for documentation, PRs, PRs comments…
torben-friis 43 minutes ago [-]
I wish this was the case. Then we wouldn't have a minority of us deeply frustrated :)
'Thanks for the doc, let's set a meeting' (implied: so you can read the doc aloud to us ) is the bane of my existence.
comrade1234 53 minutes ago [-]
Despite using an ai while programming I still have open Java doc and other api documents and find them very useful as the ai often gives code based on old apis instead of what I'm actually using. So I do read those documents.
But also, I have a somewhat mentally ill (as in he takes medication for it) coworker that sends rambling extra-long emails, often all one paragraph. If I can't figure out what he's asking by reading the first couple and last couple of sentences I ask him to summarize it with bullet pouts and it actually works. Lol.
22 minutes ago [-]
coopykins 32 minutes ago [-]
It's one of the main things I learned when working as tech support and I talked with users all day. Nobody reads anything.
funnybeam 11 minutes ago [-]
I used to refer to the helpdesk as the reading desk - “Hello, you’re through to the IT Helpdesk, what can i read for you today?”
taffydavid 1 hours ago [-]
I read this entire post and all the comments this disproving the Miller principle
armchairhacker 38 minutes ago [-]
This principle applies to the following:
- User documentation
- Specifications
- Code comments
- Any text on a user interface
- Any email longer than one line
Not blog posts or comments. Ironic
taffydavid 24 minutes ago [-]
Damn, I guess I didn't read it closely enough
sebastianconcpt 2 minutes ago [-]
Proved that read is not causation of understanding but mere correlation.
So if the read of the Miller principle is interpreted as read+understanding (it should) an interesting deeper discussion can happen.
It can be invoked with a way more dramatic "None understands anything"
hamdouni 46 minutes ago [-]
Yeah, i'm also surprised people just read post title and jump to conclusions ...
stevage 36 minutes ago [-]
Should probably be "The Miller Principle (2007)"
Animats 58 minutes ago [-]
The LLMs read everything.
krona 32 minutes ago [-]
It doesn't mean they're paying attention.
formerly_proven 46 minutes ago [-]
Only because they are architecturally unable to not read something.
simultsop 34 minutes ago [-]
until one day
realaleris149 1 hours ago [-]
The agents will read them
smitty1e 1 hours ago [-]
I have found much value in reading the python and sqlite documentation. The Arch wiki is another reliable source.
Good documentation is hard.
simultsop 33 minutes ago [-]
I don't know. Under pressure and stress all docs are ugly.
Akcium 1 hours ago [-]
I would love to answer your comment but I didn't read it :P
spiderfarmer 57 minutes ago [-]
The Laravel documentation is GREAT when you're getting started. Every chapter starts by answering the very question you might ask yourself if you're going through it top to bottom.
I'm a one-man-band so if I write code comments, I write them for future me because up to this point he has been very grateful. Creating API documentation is also easy if you can generate it based on the comments in your code.
Maybe rename it the Filler principle. Nobody reads mindless comments that are 'filler'.
makach 53 minutes ago [-]
..and emails
sarreph 1 minutes ago [-]
The irony.
stevage 31 minutes ago [-]
> Any email longer than one line
it's in there
Rendered at 11:21:28 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
Nowadays everyone can generate a 20-page RFC/ADR and even though you can tell if they are LLM generated, you cannot easily reject them based on that factor only. So here we are spending hours reading something the author spent 5 min. to generate (and barely knows what’s about).
Same goes for documentation, PRs, PRs comments…
'Thanks for the doc, let's set a meeting' (implied: so you can read the doc aloud to us ) is the bane of my existence.
But also, I have a somewhat mentally ill (as in he takes medication for it) coworker that sends rambling extra-long emails, often all one paragraph. If I can't figure out what he's asking by reading the first couple and last couple of sentences I ask him to summarize it with bullet pouts and it actually works. Lol.
So if the read of the Miller principle is interpreted as read+understanding (it should) an interesting deeper discussion can happen.
It can be invoked with a way more dramatic "None understands anything"
Good documentation is hard.
I'm a one-man-band so if I write code comments, I write them for future me because up to this point he has been very grateful. Creating API documentation is also easy if you can generate it based on the comments in your code.
Maybe rename it the Filler principle. Nobody reads mindless comments that are 'filler'.
it's in there