this post was submitted on 27 May 2025
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[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

The format of the answer came in the blurb under the link

Sure, and that works really well if I just need a quick fact check. I use DDG and use that feature a ton.

But that doesn't work when more context is needed, like in a comparison. I find myself clicking through and skimming a dozen pages, and with an LLM I end up only needing 3-4 pages after reading its summary to confirm what it said.

AI Code Tools Widely Hallucinate Packages

Sure, which is why I always verify things like that. I ask it to compare popular libraries that accomplish a task, then look for evidence that my preferred option does what I want (issues on the project page) and is actively maintained (recent commits, multiple active contributors, etc). The LLM is just there to narrow the search space and give me things to look for.

To do that with regular search would take a bit longer since I'd need to compare each library to each other to find relevant blogs and whatnot. So even if search worked better, it would still take longer.

Sometimes it breaks down and I go back to my old method, but it's usually worth a shot.

I use LLMs a lot less than my coworkers, but I do use them periodically when I think it'll be useful. I've been a dev for a long time (10+ years), so I find I usually know where to look already. I discourage our junior devs from relying on it too much and encourage our senior devs to give it a shot.