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The problem with "vibe coding"

dylanbeattie.net

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Re: The problem with "vibe coding"

#41

Post by ashoeafoot »

commandersaki wrote: post #7

One of the genuinely positive things about tools like Copilot and ChatGPT is that they empower people with minimal development experience to create their own programs. Little programs that do useful things - and that’s awesome. More power to the users. I've changed my outlook on vibe coding after seeing the results of this wholesome vibe coding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pJUXocn7aE . This guy didn't just make…

its also makes linux shell pipe coding graph node programable.

firefox("find cats") -> gimp ("carton filter cats")-> gimp("compose into partypic") -> google drive ("upload to cat folder")

Re: The problem with "vibe coding"

#42

Post by ManuelKiessling »

timr wrote: post #28
commandersaki wrote: post #7

One of the genuinely positive things about tools like Copilot and ChatGPT is that they empower people with minimal development experience to create their own programs. Little programs that do useful things - and that’s awesome. More power to the users. I've changed my outlook on vibe coding after seeing the results of this wholesome vibe coding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pJUXocn7aE . This guy didn't just make…

Yeah, the most important part of that video is where he says: "it works well enough" . I think there's lots of room for this kind of bespoke software that's fundamentally unmaintainable -- and not something anyone could reasonably afford to make with professionals -- but good enough for purpose. This seems like a great, life-changing example, but it's still subject to the same thing the article is talking about. I've…

Clearly beneficial for skilled people imho, I wrote about that here [0] recently.

[0] https://manuel.kiessling.net/2025/03/31/how-seasoned-develop...

Re: The problem with "vibe coding"

#43

Post by Maxious »

kemayo wrote: post #18
alchemist1e9 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree they may not and that’s very interesting. As an experienced developer myself I’m starting to think these tools are likely going to increase our market value not decrease it.

It's not implausible that we'll wind up with something like the extremely long-lasting market for COBOL developers. A niche skill that's absolutely essential in a few places, and which can command high salaries as a result... for a few people. Only so many huge legacy banking systems, after all. The problem, as with COBOL, would be the loss of the existing pipeline that created new competent high-level developers.

IBM just launched a new mainframe with AI accelerators https://www.ibm.com/products/watsonx-code-assistant-z in part to help rewrite production COBOL into Java https://www.ibm.com/products/watsonx-code-assistant-z

Re: The problem with "vibe coding"

#44

Post by lodovic »

mvdtnz wrote: post #16
charcircuit wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pure definition is to have AI do everything for you without caring about what the actual code is.

Yeah this is how I interpret it. Type text into the chatbot, copy and paste the outputted code. If it fails to compile, paste the error message and get the resulting code. Similar if it fails at runtime. Supply the LLM with additional code files where necessary but don't really look at the code, just copy and paste in, copy and paste out.

Copy paste is so last year, just turn on agent mode in VS code or Cursor. It took me only a single prompt to convert a set of messy razor pages into a nicely structured React application.

Re: The problem with "vibe coding"

#45

Post by makeitdouble »

> To me, programs are “works on my machine” code.

My main takeaway from vibe-coding is that nobody cared enough to fill that niche and expectation. And it was really frustrating, yet we're getting there through convolutated, inefficient and borderline barbaric means.

People are still lamenting after HyperCard. Automation on windows or macos didn't go anywhere. Shortcuts were a better step into that direction but I feel it got stuck in the middle as Apple wasn't going to push it further. Android had more freedom yet you won't see a "normal" user do automation either.

If we're going to point the middle finger at vibe-coding, I wish we had something to point to as a better tool for the general population to quickly make stuff they want/need.

(Doing it as a professional dev is to me another debate, still with nuance in it IMHO. I'd also love better prototyping tools to be honest.)

Re: The problem with "vibe coding"

#46

Post by roncesvalles »

doug_durham wrote: post #34
alganet wrote: post #14

Sometimes I want to cook a home meal. If I wanted to open a large world class fast food chain, I wouldn't be cooking home meals then. That would be silly. Copilot can help me cook the equivalent of a McDonalds special in terms of software. It's good, I think McDonalds is delicious. But it cannot help me cook a home meal software. It will insist that my home made fries must go in a little red box, and my fish sandwich…

Pretty weak analogy. Copilot can show you how to make either McDonalds or a Michelin starred restaurant meal. It is endlessly variable.

Asking the LLM for something is like doing an "Ask the Audience" in Who Wants to be a Millionaire. You're basically polling the consensus answer to the question you're asking.

Re: The problem with "vibe coding"

#47

Post by 0xCE0 »

The real problem with "vibe coding" (or any coding, or with any product what so ever) is that the end user probably is not a programmer, and therefore cannot have professional judgement on the quality of the implementation. The only thing typical end user care is the perceived behavior, not the implementation details.

As it is easier and cheaper to do anything, the result is low-quality products. This of course serves well for the real professionals, who can now sell premium quality products at premium pricing for those who know and want the quality.

Re: The problem with "vibe coding"

#48

Post by gorgoiler »

It’s implied that programs are personal but product code goes through peer review, checking the premise of the change as well as the implementation.

When someone reviews vibe coded patches and gives feedback, what should the reviewer expect the author to do? Pass the feedback onto their agent and upload the result? That feels silly.

How has code review changed in our brave, vibey new world? Are we just reviewing ideas now, and leaving the code up to the model? Is our software now just an accumulation of deterministic prompts that can be replayed to get the same result?

Re: The problem with "vibe coding"

#49

Post by y42 »

commandersaki wrote: post #7

One of the genuinely positive things about tools like Copilot and ChatGPT is that they empower people with minimal development experience to create their own programs. Little programs that do useful things - and that’s awesome. More power to the users. I've changed my outlook on vibe coding after seeing the results of this wholesome vibe coding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pJUXocn7aE . This guy didn't just make…

While I agree that vibe coding holds a lot of potential, we should not fall into the trap of success bias here....
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