Terence Tao Revives Old Java Applets and Builds New Tools with AI Coding Agents
Old and new apps, via modern coding agents by Terry Tao
I recently used modern AI coding agents to port my old Java applets from 1999 into functional JavaScript, bringing decades-old visualizations back to life with minimal bugs. The process was so efficient that I also resurrected an abandoned special relativity project and created a new tool for the Gilbreath conjecture, proving that AI is a powerful partner for rapid mathematical prototyping.
After a couple hours of 'vibe coding' with an AI agent, I was finally able to generate an applet that matched the vision I had back in 1999.
- recursivedoubts
Building visualizations with LLMs has been a major boost for my CS classes:
https://htmx.org/essays/universities-and-ai/#demos-visualiza...
Many visualizations that I have always wanted but just didn't have the time to build, I now have.
To give an example, I wanted a simplified 8-bit computer to complement the 16-bit teaching computer I use and designed this in a few days with the help of claude:
- luciana1u
Terry Tao using coding agents to build apps means we're one step away from a Fields Medalist asking an LLM why his Docker container won't start, just like the rest of us.
- semiquaver
There is infinite latent demand for software, most especially outside the traditionally software-focused spaces. If LLMs stopped improving today it would take us 10 years to catch up to the new software-writing abilities that have become available. This is a great illustration of that fact.
- wffurr
Nice balanced perspective there at the end:
"as such [LLM-coded interactive] supplements are not mission-critical to the core of the paper, I again feel that the downside risk of using guided interaction with LLM agents to generate such visualizations is acceptable."
It's a tool. Good for some things but not others and generally not to be trusted.
- luciana1u
Terry Tao using coding agents feels like watching a Michelin-starred chef discover microwave dinners and get genuinely excited about them.
- apignotti
Running legacy educational Java applets, especially around math and physics, has been a longstanding popular use case of our CheerpJ Applet Runner extension, running Java bytecode in the browser via WebAssembly.
I am not sure how to feel about agents solving the problem via proper modernization. It's certainly positive that students will be able to interact with this content in a modern and more accessible way, but the educational use case for our product, although not commercially important, has always been a source of pride.
https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/cheerpj-applet-runn...
- alansaber
I always enjoy these "domain expert has fun using AI to do something in their domain" articles. But it's always a hobby project, never something serious.
- bradfitz
This post inspired me to have Claude port my 30 year old high school German Java applet game to Javascript, complete with a faked git history:
https://github.com/bradfitz/koffer#der-verloren-koffe
Play online at https://bradfitz.github.io/koffer/js/
So neat seeing ~30 year old code come back alive.