Trying to get better at vibe coding is like trying to get better at sleeping. The whole point is not to put effort into it.
> The whole point is not to put effort into it.
You sound like you have not spent much time using AI tools.
A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
81–90 of 122 posts
Re: A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
#82Let’s just call it like it is, Vibe coding takes away the thinking of the execution of steps to solve the problem and offloads that part of our mind to a text generator with intelligent emergent properties. If you enjoy keeping the intelligence sharp for laying out the steps to solve the problem and executing the steps then don’t vibe code. If you don’t mind the engineering skills atrophy then go ahead and vibe code. But know this. You will lose the skills.
Re: A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
#83I've just spent the better part of two weeks trying to convince a LLM to automate some programming for me. We use feature flags. However, cleaning them up is something rarely done. It typically takes me ~3minutes to clean one up. To clean up the flag: 1) delete the test where the flag is off 2) delete all the code setting the flag to on 3) anything getting the value of the flag is set to true 4) resolve all "true" ex…
If you have examples, can you provide git commit hashes that it can diff and use as a reference?
For repeating patterns I'll identify 1-3 commit hashes or PRs, reference them in a slash command, and keep the command up to date if/when edge cases occur.
Re: A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
#84I think the article could be more accurately titled "A Guide to Gen AI / LLM Vibecoding for Programmers who hate their job" To me, someone who actually love programming, it makes vibe coding look like hell. > The workflow of vibe coding is the same as managing scrums or helping a student through a research thesis Which programmer wants that?! Just hearing the word "scrum" makes me want to run away and I know I am not…
> I think the article could be more accurately titled "A Guide to Gen AI / LLM Vibecoding for Programmers who hate their job" Given how “vibe coding” is all about explaining clearly the requirements and defining context, it’s for programmers who should have chosen middle management as a career. To actual programmers that enjoy the craft, using an LLM means ruining the beautiful art of abstraction and mental visualisa…
The reality is that hacking code isn't always beautiful. Most of the time, it is mundane grunt work.
You can always leave the core logic for your to work on and have the AI handle all the bits that you don't like to do. This is what we do for modelling for example, AI helps with the interface and data backends, the core modelling logic is hand-crafted.
Re: A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
#85This appears to me to be a surprisingly low-effort article. Nothing about managing context length and starting tasks from a good context, managing .md files and structuring repos, very anthropomorphising which does not help, nothing about tools to use to build the right context, no comparison of different approaches, what kind of MCP and/or RAG to get agents to look at documentation.
Re: A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think the article could be more accurately titled "A Guide to Gen AI / LLM Vibecoding for Programmers who hate their job" Given how “vibe coding” is all about explaining clearly the requirements and defining context, it’s for programmers who should have chosen middle management as a career. To actual programmers that enjoy the craft, using an LLM means ruining the beautiful art of abstraction and mental visualisa…
The reality is that hacking code isn't always beautiful. Most of the time, it is mundane grunt work. You can always leave the core logic for your to work on and have the AI handle all the bits that you don't like to do. This is what we do for modelling for example, AI helps with the interface and data backends, the core modelling logic is hand-crafted.
> mundane grunt work.
this is my favourite kind of work. i can switch my brain off and just do something repetitive for a bit.
boredom is necessary for good ideas.
Re: A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
But automating isn't a programming paradigm. > They are young and inexperienced today, but won't stay that way for long. I doubt that. For me this is the real dilemma with a generation of LLM-native developers. Does a worker in a fully automated watch factory become better at the craft of watchmaking with time?
I think the idea that LLMs are just good at "automating" is the old curmudgeon idea that young people won't have. I think the fundamental shift is something like having ancillary awareness of code at all but high capability to architect and drill down into product details. In other words, fresh-faced LLM programmers will come out the gate looking like really good product managers. Similar to how C++ programmers looke…
Yeah i agree with most of what you say.
> looking like really good product managers.
Exactly and that's a different field with a different skillset than developer/programmer.
And that's the purpose of technology in the first place tbh, to make the hard/tedious work easier.
Re: A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
But automating isn't a programming paradigm. > They are young and inexperienced today, but won't stay that way for long. I doubt that. For me this is the real dilemma with a generation of LLM-native developers. Does a worker in a fully automated watch factory become better at the craft of watchmaking with time?
But do those watches tell time better? or harder? or louder? Once you have the quartz crystal and have digital watches, mechanical movements became obsolete. Rolex and Patek Philippe are still around, but it's more of a curiosity than anything.
Absolutely agree. The watches do tell time better. But the factory worker does not become better at the craft of watchmaking or EE.
Re: A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
#89This looks like rambling than a guide.
Re: A guide to Gen AI / LLM vibecoding for expert programmers
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I think the article could be more accurately titled "A Guide to Gen AI / LLM Vibecoding for Programmers who hate their job" Given how “vibe coding” is all about explaining clearly the requirements and defining context, it’s for programmers who should have chosen middle management as a career. To actual programmers that enjoy the craft, using an LLM means ruining the beautiful art of abstraction and mental visualisa…
The reality is that hacking code isn't always beautiful. Most of the time, it is mundane grunt work. You can always leave the core logic for your to work on and have the AI handle all the bits that you don't like to do. This is what we do for modelling for example, AI helps with the interface and data backends, the core modelling logic is hand-crafted.
Yup. I think programmers are giving themselves too much credit here. I love programming, but let's not kid ourselves, at most organizations at least 75% of the code needed to make something a working product is BS. I'd rather prompt an LLM agent to take care of that while I review it so that I can spend my limited energy on the more interesting bits. I find the exercise of prompting an LLM to generate boring code to my exact specifications far more intellectually stimulating than doing any of that stuff by hand, and the time that I have invested in this area has paid dividends in making the code cleaner, more consistent, and more coherent.