AI for writing documentation

my man, we have a stack of RFCs printed out that we reference on a regular basis, you are barking up the wrong tree entirely. maybe you should spend time engaging with the actual material instead of delegating understanding to the slop machine.
 
Why exactly do you think I ask questions about RFC documents for? (and of course I ask such questions only after reading the complete thing, duh.) Ok, I'm really tired reading you. I'm here for only a few weeks, and I think I haven't seen a single message written by you that wasn't obvious bad faith. You're really not interesting.
 
huge thing that makes us not want to deal with any of this garbage is that most of its purveyors can't take a "no", and have to give us this pushy hard sell that sounds like it's coming from a wild-eyed zealot trying to get us hooked on his supply. it's creepy.
 
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You're the only zealot here, dumping your hate on every thread discussing AI, usually with low effort dismissive one-liners (which is rich, coming from someone complaining about slop - AI slop from genAI is indeed a problem, but not as big a problem than *your* slop). As all haters, whatever the object of their hate, you're completely defined by it, because hate is an obsession. You can't help pursuing it.

Now, don't worry, you won't have to suffer ever again seeing me disturbing your hate, because I'm adding you to my ignore list. I'm not interested in reading anything from you. I didn't leave social networks just to be exposed yet again to a constant stream of hate in a technical forum. I'm letting you know so that you don't find yourself ever waiting for a reply from me.
 
the extra cool part is that there's no way to prove if any of the code came from, say, GPL or proprietary sources, which, i'm sure, is going to result in 0 additional problems besides all of the other problems with slop code. :)
 
atax1a said:
the extra cool part is that there's no way to prove if any of the code came from, say, GPL or proprietary sources, which, i'm sure, is going to result in 0 additional problems besides all of the other problems with slop code. :)
Click to expand...
Besides, does an AI have an interest in anything at all? All the licenses/rules/permissions/laws are made by humans who have an interest in profit. I mean, a reasonable human mind can possibly conclude that an AI might be interested in RAM, electrical power, and related stuff - but that's only the case when there are humans around that are interested in stuff. On its own, an AI is nothing more than a pile of poisonous rare earths and metal, and can't possibly want or care for anything... not even GPL code.
 
What's the point to ask an AI to write something that you'll need te re-read and correct ? I still don't understand the hype around this thing, just losing time and giving money to tech merchants. Writing docs IS part of the coding/operating a software, we just lost it. Take any 80's software, any hardware came with a solid manual, so were the games too. There was no "AI" doing this, the manuals were excellent and the translations were perfect.
I document almost each line of the code I write, by hand, just like dinosaurs did. But if I write a variable is a integer, IT IS an integer ; I don't give a robot the risk to mistakenly write it's a string. Kind of very small errors that could break everything. "Real" human professionnal translators do know it, if you translate a big company contract to another language and you use only a small wrong word, that's a big hole that could ruin the company. An IA will not care about this.
 
Update:
I have been updating my md2mdoc(7) for bug-fixes and added more syntax handling. I say "my", here, because my repo is now 15+ (read: I stopped counting) ahead of the github version but that's not the point I'm really trying to make (if the consensus from most seems to be "Ai is easier", md2mdoc(7) will/should go back to being private because: "Do nothing which is of no use."). -e.g. In combination with mandoc(1) I can now convert simple (readable) markdown to html, ascii, ps, pdf, etc. and in batch. -i.e. a directory of markdown files can now be converted with a makefile and/or script.

I believe I have achieved at least a few major goals over the use of Ai (my programming abilities aside--at least I'm trying and if md2mdoc(7) goes/stays private this does not matter):

1. Lowering the technical debt (allowing users that do not have experiences with mandoc(1) macros the ability to write manpages). Which possibly ("arguable" at best) closes the workflow gap for documentation bug fixes and/or new documentation additions.

2. Opened the possibility for more/easier collaboration in "technical writing" (-e.g. markdown files--that can be later converted to manpages or other formats--can be viewed/edited on VCS web type interfaces). Which would allow more experienced writers the ability to guide in documentation writing.

While neither of the above goals, require md2mdoc(7) to be public -i.e. I can, at minimum, achieve these goals on a personal/small scale. However, I'd be interested in hearing from more experienced developers if these goals are "worthwhile" on larger scale and/or how are technical documents generated now (I understand professionals are now being "pressured/forced to use Ai", which is a different topic)? I can certainly see how an experienced manpage writer can/may easily write/review the manpage themselves but is there any value in offering the possibility for more collaboration in docs?

REF:
- This thread is essentially about choosing form over function and the "validity" of.
- I have been told my project will be referenced/used in one (1) other project so I'm also looking for advice/opinions (I'm feeling a little out of my depth/nervous). I do not know to what extent yet, though.
 
Talking myself off the ledge:
I guess the worst that could happen is that my program fails to produce a document (the end-user's machine or document is not harmed or modified) so I should not feel 'nervous'.
 
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