Generative AI in Practice

16CODING AND PROGRAMMING: THE AI REVOLUTION

This new wave of advanced GenAI large language models isn't just capable of writing text – they can write computer code. Which makes sense when you think that computer code is just another type of language. This means GenAI can aid the work of coders, programmers, and developers, and speed up the software development process.

(If you're new to this topic and wondering what the difference is between coders, programmers, and developers, coders use programming languages to tell a computer or software what to do, whereas programmers or developers are generally more experienced coders who can work across multiple programming languages and oversee projects, including developing the logic and mapping the project from start to finish. People often use the terms interchangeably, which is what I'll do in this chapter, although technically speaking, coding is a part of the overall programming process.)

But how good is GenAI at creating computer code? Well, when the Alphabet-owned DeepMind lab pitted its AlphaCode AI model in competition against human coders, AlphaCode's performance roughly corresponded to “a novice programmer with a few months to a year of training.”¹ Not bad at all for an AI. And given that GenAI's capabilities are progressing so fast, we can expect the technology to catch up to more experienced coders in the not-so-distant future.

Another interesting aspect of this is GenAI can also help people like me – someone who has relatively ...