Re:Automatically document an entire codebase using LLMs
by woeirua on Saturday March 25, 2023 @12:23AM
(#35299359)
This just begs the question… why not generate the docs when someone reads the code instead? Why bother generating a bunch of half assed docs today when you can wait and interrogate the code in a much more natural and fluid way using the same LLM when it matters?
Re:Automatically document an entire codebase using LLMs
by docandrew on Saturday March 25, 2023 @01:12AM
(#35299661)
SEO. When you ask an LLM “What’s a good library/tool I can use to accomplish X?” The ones with some documentation already attached will rise to the surface and make it easier for the consuming LLM to generate code samples for.
Re:Automatically document an entire codebase using LLMs
by IanCal on Saturday March 25, 2023 @04:20AM
(#35300578)
1. It's cheaper
2. Everyone can see the same thing
3. It can be utilized for search
4. You can do both
Perhaps most importantly
5. It can be reviewed
Re:Automatically document an entire codebase using LLMs
by ModernMech on Saturday March 25, 2023 @09:32AM
(#35302455)
Because not everyone will have access to LLM technology, and even if they do, your project might not always be used in a setting where access is technically feasible.
An LLM may not fully comprehend the code like the original author, but it can offer a different perspective that may be valuable. The only argument I've seen against LLMs is that it may encourage laziness, but this is a flawed argument similar to those made against the printing press, which was said to make people illiterate.
As a reader of the docs: does it require discipline to refer back to the code when needed. Yes, but this is no different from the discipline required to write documentation in the first place. But with a key difference, the discipline is shifted from author to reader.