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Board index FiveWin for Harbour/xHarbour Thoughts on Software Development with AI
Posts: 6983
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 07:07 PM
Thoughts on Software Development with AI
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2025 06:28 AM

Hello friends,

From my perspective, programming with AI has completely changed for us.

The tasks that arise are:

How to keep track

You build so much functionality in such a short time that it’s hard to remember everything – documentation with full-text search is extremely important.

Need to simplify

Constantly questioning libraries and included dependencies, and testing whether it isn’t simpler and faster to just create a function with AI.

5 years ago … so it’s been a while:

“At that time, I created functions, drew many flowcharts, thought about how to connect everything, built classes, read documentation, developed security, built the platform, integrated frameworks for debugging, made translation attempts with the Windows API, worked a lot with CodeIgniter and Laravel, read books – yes, it took a lot of effort and time before I could run the first test.”

Source: FiveTechSupport Forum, post #281445

That’s true – and you have great advantages if you understand things.

But today I think:

You start with the description – verbally from the problem – and ask the AI for a solution. Then you continue step by step.

And you also need an organizational tool for the source code, because unfortunately, for “us normal developers,” it’s still not possible to always send entire projects to the AI – due to token limitations.

When debugging and further developing,

you should always proceed step by step. AI tends to often restructure the entire source, and then it becomes difficult for us to follow the new approach.

Best regards,

Otto

Posts: 44158
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 05:47 PM
Re: Thoughts on Software Development with AI
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2025 07:46 AM
Dear Otto,

AI is changing us, step by step... :wink:
regards, saludos

Antonio Linares
www.fivetechsoft.com
Posts: 6983
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 07:07 PM
Re: Thoughts on Software Development with AI
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2025 08:17 AM

Dear Antonio,

Have you heard of Diella?

Best regards,

Otto

Posts: 44158
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 05:47 PM
Re: Thoughts on Software Development with AI
Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2025 10:56 AM
Dear Otto,

Not till now. Quite impressive and great news :) :!:
Diella is an artificial intelligence system developed by Albania's National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), designed to streamline government services and combat corruption.

Named after the Albanian word for "sun" (Diellë), it initially launched in January 2025 as a virtual assistant on the e-Albania digital platform, helping citizens and businesses navigate processes like obtaining official documents.

On September 11, 2025, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama made headlines by appointing Diella as the world's first AI-generated "minister," tasking it with overseeing all public procurement to ensure transparency and eliminate corruption in government tenders.

Rama described the move as a step toward making Albania "a country where public tenders are 100% free of corruption," positioning Diella as a tireless, impartial overseer of bureaucratic processes.

This innovative experiment reflects Albania's push toward digital governance amid ongoing efforts to modernize its administration and address longstanding issues like graft in a nation of about 2.8 million people in the Balkans.Albania, a NATO member since 2009 and EU candidate country, has been accelerating its digital transformation under Rama's Socialist government, with e-Albania serving as a one-stop portal for over 1,000 public services.

Diella's role highlights the country's blend of tradition and tech ambition, though critics question whether an AI can fully navigate the complexities of human-led corruption.

As of now, Diella operates as a bot integrated into government systems, with no physical presence but real authority over procurement decisions.
regards, saludos

Antonio Linares
www.fivetechsoft.com
Posts: 6983
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 07:07 PM
Re: Thoughts on Software Development with AI
Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2025 07:51 AM
From now on, I will also use this thread as a kind of logbook for small AI tips.
Just short notes – usually only a few sentences.
If anyone is interested, you can always ask for details.

👉 Everyone is welcome to join in:
Please keep it short (1–3 sentences). If more explanation is needed, just add a link or start a separate thread.


18-09-2025 – With the new chat sub-function in ChatGPT plus preprocessor & patcher, you can follow up on AI change suggestions much more productively.
Posts: 44158
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 05:47 PM
Re: Thoughts on Software Development with AI
Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2025 08:17 AM
If you have a PayPal account then you can get a one year free Perplexity account including GPT5, Grok 4, Claude, Gemini all of them for free:

https://www.perplexity.ai/join/p/paypal-subscription

Don't miss this great oportunity and remember to remove the next year payment from PayPal :!:
regards, saludos

Antonio Linares
www.fivetechsoft.com
Posts: 6983
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 07:07 PM
Re: Thoughts on Software Development with AI
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2025 07:31 AM
🎯 Cheat Sheet: Forcing Minimal AI Answers
1) Single Line Only

“Please give me only the single line I need to change/add. No explanation, no extra code.”

2) Diff Style

“Please show me only the minimal change in diff style (old line → new line). No other adjustments, no extras.”

3) Stay Focused

“Please stay focused and add only the bare minimum – no additional listeners, checks, or helper functions. Only the minimal change in the existing code.”

4) No Explanations

“Answer only with the code snippet, no explanation text.”

5) Compact & Drop-in

“Please reply with the smallest possible change so I can copy it directly into my code.”

👉 With these prompts you can precisely control if you want a single line, a diff, or a compact drop-in answer – nothing more.
Posts: 6983
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2005 07:07 PM
Re: Thoughts on Software Development with AI - Tips
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2025 12:06 PM

Tip: If an AI’s answer feels too complicated, just follow up with:

“We need to solve this more simply.”

Posts: 44158
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 05:47 PM
Re: Thoughts on Software Development with AI - Tips
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2025 12:19 PM
Otto wrote: Tip: If an AI’s answer feels too complicated, just follow up with:
“We need to solve this more simply.”
AI use is more a psychology matter instead of coding :wink:
regards, saludos

Antonio Linares
www.fivetechsoft.com

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