Should I Code My Product Manually or Use AI Tools to Build It Faster?
I have a strong product idea and I'm trying to decide how to build it. Is it more important to write the software myself from the ground up,…
code quality
What Does “Vibe Coding” Actually Mean?
How would you define "vibe coding"? To me, it seems to involve two things: building something in a way you couldn't have managed with older tools, and accepting…
Why doesn’t vibe coding scale well to applications with many users?
AI can now build surprisingly capable prototypes and smaller applications from natural-language instructions. However, experienced developers often say that large, heavily used products still require human engineers. Most…
Are try-catch blocks really bad practice?
I'm new to programming, and my boss recently called try-catch statements "garbage" and told me to avoid them completely. That confused me because I thought exceptions were a…
Are try-catch blocks really bad practice?
I'm new to programming, and my boss told me that try-catch statements are "garbage" and that I should avoid them entirely. That confused me because I thought exceptions…
How long did it typically take to write 1,000 lines of code before AI tools?
Before modern AI coding tools, what was a realistic amount of time for a developer to write around 1,000 lines of code? I know the answer depends on…
How Can I Build Code-Review Skills When I Rely on AI-Generated Code?
I'm a student learning to program, and I feel caught in a loop with AI coding tools such as ChatGPT and Claude. When they generate code, I often…
How Can I Build Code-Review Skills When I Rely on AI-Generated Code?
I'm a student learning programming and have started using tools like ChatGPT and Claude to write code. I usually follow their output closely, so it has become my…
How can I learn to write cleaner, more maintainable code?
I've mostly learned programming by building projects, making mistakes, and trying to improve the next one. That has helped, but I'm wondering what else I should be doing…
How Should a Mid-Level Programmer Use AI Without Losing Their Skills?
AI tools have advanced to the point where they can generate entire applications in minutes, which creates a difficult dilemma for a mid-level programmer. I want to keep…
How should a mid-level programmer use AI without losing their skills?
I have been programming for about 12 years, mostly self-taught, and I am struggling to find a healthy way to use modern AI coding tools. They can generate…
What Makes Code So Bad It “Makes Your Eyes Bleed”?
I've heard people describe difficult code by saying that reading it made their eyes bleed. I understand that code can be buggy, but what makes code feel bad…
What’s the realistic impact of AI on software engineering today?
I've been away from the corporate software world for a while and can't really justify an expensive AI subscription. I've experimented with AGY CLI and Codex: AGY handles…
How Could We Reliably Compare AI-Generated Code With Human-Written Code?
Is there a rigorous way to determine whether code produced primarily by AI is worse than code written by an experienced developer? For example, could we compare two…
How can we objectively compare AI-generated code with code written by experienced developers?
Is there a rigorous way to compare a codebase produced primarily by AI with one written by a senior developer? I'm wondering whether static analysis, test coverage, maintainability…
Do OOP and design patterns really improve code quality?
James said that object-oriented programming and design patterns can improve a codebase by reducing duplication, making onboarding easier, and improving testability. He also suggested that people who consider…
Is making small coding mistakes just part of learning?
I'm still fairly new to programming, and I have days where I make lots of simple mistakes: typos, missing semicolons, mistyped method names, and similar errors. Even when…
How can I use ESLint and static analysis to keep AI-generated code under control?
I'm tired of AI coding tools producing duplicated functions, huge bloated methods, unsafe casts, and schema changes that only make things appear to work. When I'm not carefully…
How can I use ESLint and static analysis to keep AI-generated code under control?
I'm building a large project by myself in an Nx monorepo with several applications, including Next.js, React Native, Fastify, and Python. AI coding tools often generate duplicated functions,…
How do you prevent AI-assisted Python projects from developing architectural drift?
I've been using AI agents and autocomplete tools on a greenfield FastAPI project. The initial development was extremely fast, but as the codebase grew to include multiple routers,…