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0 pointseddythompson802mo ago0 comments

I agree. I actually think CSS (and SQL or other “perfectly functional” interfaces) hold some kind of special power when it comes to AI.

I still feel that the main revolution of AI/LLMs will be in authoring text for such “perfectly functional”-text bases interfaces.

For example, building a “powerful and rich” query experience for any product I worked on was always an exercise in frustration. You know all the data is there, and you know SQL is infinitely capable. But you have to figure out the right UI and the right functions for that UI to call to run the right SQL query to get the right data back to the user.

Asking the user to write the SQL query is a non-starter. You either build some “UI” for it based on what you think is the main usecases, or go all in and invent a new “query language“ that you think (or hope) makes sense to your user. Now you can ask your user to blurb whatever they feel like, and hope your LLM can look at that and your db schema, and come up with the “right” SQL query for it.

0 comments

yread2mo ago

Hey! Don't you dare to compare SQL and CSS. SQL is not a cobbled together mess of incremental updates with 5 imperfect ways of achieving common tasks that interact in weird ways. Writing everything in SQL-92 in 2026 is not gonna get you weird looks or lock you out of features relevant for end users. If writing SQL for your problem feels difficult it's a good sign you ought to look at alternatives (eg. use multiple statements instead). Writing the right CSS being difficult is normal.

cuu5082mo ago

> Don't you dare to compare SQL and CSS. SQL is not a cobbled together mess of incremental updates with 5 imperfect ways of achieving common tasks that interact in weird ways.

Reminds me a little bit of Sascha Baron Cohen's democracy speech [1] in The Dictator ;-)

Both SQL and CSS have evolved through different versions and vendor specific flavors, and have accumulated warts and different ways to do the same thing. Both feel like a superpower once you have mastered them, but painful to get anything done while learning due to the steep learning curve.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUSiCEx3e-0

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