This week, the media has been full of “vibe coding”, coined by Andrej Karpathy, which refers to using artificial intelligence (AI) coding assistants, simply putting into an AI what you want to achieve, and picking the top answers that the AI gives you.
However, for those not already proficient in coding, it is more like editing and auditing code, with junior programmers required to have a significant level of knowledge to direct the AI, without skipping the step of learning how to do it themselves.
It is recommended that this should be kept for expert coders working on non-critical, trivial projects, akin to how calculator use should not be allowed until basic math has been mastered.
There is also a security risk from using this type of coding which could leave users vulnerable to attacks.
Nonetheless, for simple applications, it could be an effective solution.
As with all tools, it is not about what you use, but how you use it.
The article concludes by saying that as a professional programmer for 20 years, AI is a useful tool for quick, simple projects, or for prototyping.
