Born Against, or why hobby programming communities are against LLM usage

A GH thread related to chess engine development prompted a thought about the growing hostility in hobby programming communities towards LLM usage. Similar sentiments have been expressed in niche communities such as OSDev, LangDev, TxtDev, EmuDev, RLDev, the demoscene, and code golfers. The general consensus is that these communities value the hard-earned knowledge and the process of mastering a difficult field over the end product.

LLMs are seen as a shortcut that misses the point entirely. In some instances, earnest early engagement with LLMs in these communities was short-lived due to a lack of deep understanding and the presence of a vitriolic subset that views LLMs as cheating. These communities are characterized by gatekeeping and slow progress, so earning respect takes years of activity, sharing elegant code, genuine curiosity, and deep domain knowledge.

The value of LLMs lies in being a force multiplier for experts who already understand a domain deeply, not as a substitute for the learning process. However, even experts can be fooled by LLMs.