IBM Bob vs. Serenade.ai

The first time using it feels like magic. Its ability to analyze an existing codebase and adapt accordingly to questions, feature requests, issues, etc. is remarkable. However, it is not limited to an existing codebase - I've had it create new applications based on styling from another application from scratch. It has quickly gone from an amazing novelty to something that is relied upon daily.

Incentivized

Invited by the Vendor

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

I've met several engineers who have temporarily lost their ability to use the mouse / keyboard. But its more than an accessibility tool. Being able to simply say "Refactor this method to iterate over the collection as a collection of promises and await all promises after the iteration."... and then get that done, was amazing.

• Analyzing existing programs, explaining clearly what it does.
• Rewriting programs in a more modern language and/or a much more modular design, adding lots of explanatory comments.
• Analyzing large amounts of data, verifying assumptions are either true or false.
• Improving my ability to write good prompts, by asking IBM Bob feedback about the prompt(s) I used.

Incentivized

Invited by the Vendor

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

• Voice assisted programming
• Voice assisted computer navigation
• AI Assisted deveopment

• The setup of skills can be more simplified
• since the IBM Bob IDE is embedded in a VSCode based framework, we have to deal with the same UI (and missing guided workflows)
• The help pages are only available via URLs. I like to see an embedded help file which is structured and includes a search feature

• The voice recognition takes some getting used to. Just like using a new keyboard, you get used to what you need to over-enunciate or be really clear on. Being able to train the model / interpreter they are using on my voice, tonation, dictation, accent, etc would be a major benefit.
• Having to have a clear picture in your head about the code you want to write is a mental challenge. But this is more of a challenge of the process than the application. I found littering the code I wanted to refactor with #todo comments and then asking Serenade.ai to implement the series of comments to be the best method of planning and then implementing the code.

It works well, for the most part, but asking for authorization for multiple steps or tool installation and use sometimes becomes bothersome. You can grant blanket authorizations but I do prefer to have a tradeoff there so not all is bad, but sometimes I get the impression that we get asked the same question several times during the same workflow.

Incentivized

Invited by the Vendor

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

ChatGPT just did not have the breadth and depth of insight for my coding needs. To get an approximation of what I wanted I had to restate my prompt multiple times, and it looked almost like it did not learn from one time to the other.

Incentivized

Invited by the Vendor

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

Until very recently, there was nothing on the market which allowed you to code with voice with the accuracy that Serenade.ai provided. Even now there is nothing that I'm aware of that allows you to interface with your ENTIRE PC/Mac with your voice.

• The ROI from converting our Installer app went from an initial estimate of 2 weeks to 3 days.
• The testing of the finalized app, which had to communicate with an already existing app w, was difficult to implement and test.
• Converting old scripts from a proprietary IDE was done instantly.

Incentivized

Invited by the Vendor

A de minimis incentive was given to thank the reviewer for their time. The incentive was not used to bias or drive a particular response, nor was the incentive contingent on a positive endorsement. More Info

• I was able to continue my engineering position, earning salary, without taking disability until after my surgery. During that time I was able to continue to participate.