Thread

If math is more than proof, we need to better celebrate the rest of it

433 points · 285 comments · num42

vatsachak · 1789806053 · focus · HN ↗
Math academia 2025
> Sorry, only epic problem solvers allowed here
Math academia 2026
> We were more than just problem solvers
I think people are overblowing this though. Wake me up when GPT-whatever writes gcc from scratch, then by the Curry-Howard I'd be impressed
1. mathisfun123 · 1789817336 · focus · HN ↗
  You missed this from last year
  <a href="https://github.com/anthropics/claudes-c-compiler" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/anthropics/claudes-c-compiler
  Also I dunno why you should be impressed by this - gcc isn't anything near eg navier stokes
  1. karmakurtisaani · 1789827557 · focus · HN ↗
    There must be like a 1000 examples of c compilers in git hub alone. No idea why building LLM building one is impressive. It's right there in the training data.
    vatsachak · 1789829285 · focus · HN ↗
    I said gcc, not a C compiler
    karmakurtisaani · 1789830701 · focus · HN ↗
    True, it does more than just c. Does it do anything the usual LLMs don't have in their training data tho? I doubt it.
    vatsachak · 1789834581 · focus · HN ↗
    No, not that is does anything more...
    It's that gcc is an old and reliable piece of software built on abstractions that have stood the test of time.
    mathisfun123 · 1789844074 · focus · HN ↗
    by that measure an LLM can "build" you gcc by doing cp -R lol
    vatsachak · 1789851398 · focus · HN ↗
    No. Starting in a sandbox given only the C specification and assembly code specification build a gcc equivalent (maintainability and performance) from the ground up.
    mathisfun123 · 1789852875 · focus · HN ↗
    Brother I have no idea what your goalposts are supposed to measure in your mind but I do know they're meaningless for everyone else.
    [deleted] · 1789842693 · focus · HN ↗
    [deleted]
  2. vatsachak · 1789829275 · focus · HN ↗
    Okay tell me why that's not even close to gcc. You can use an LLM

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.