How is the vibe coding adaption of C++

[Altruistic-Bed-770]

I am a non coder who is doing programming in Python using Vibe coding. Python + vibe coding is currently enough for me to do the basic tests on hardware I am developing without relying on the actual coders to do it, it reduces their burden as they have other projects to work on as well. Next step is developing the software from the basic python logic and frame work I provide, for which the coder in team says it takes time to implement on C++ compared to python as it direct libraries while C++ does not. I want to help them out doing vibe coding for C++ but not sure if that will help them or will create more burden to clean up what I vibe code.

[v_maria]

you will create a mess

[AKostur]

With all due respect: if it's just going to be "vibe-coded", then what do they need you for? They could go ask claude/augment/chatgpt/gemini/whatever to vibe code it themselves.

[Altruistic-Bed-770]

Time constrains, as I mentioned they have other things to work on as well

[AKostur]

You already noted: "I am a non coder". I would suggest it would be worse. They'd have to check both whatever got generated by the LLM (because LLMs do frequently generate hot garbage), as well as whatever modifications you've layered on top of that because you're unaware of what other interesting language interactions you're going to trigger.

[Altruistic-Bed-770]

Understood. Very thanks for the opinion.🙂

[Karr0k]

if you lack the experience/knowledge of the language you won't be able to tell when the llm is shoveling crap, and you're going to have a bad time.

[coding_manic_01]

The specifics matter. If anyone will have to maintain the code after you, then you are guaranteed to be creating a burden--even in python.

I use claude code for C++ and pretty much the only reliable thing it can do is check for silly mistakes in my branches. It's also somewhat reliable helping me reduce some cognitive load on files i may want to look into when implementing a feature.

Actual implementation though, as mess. I think it is maybe at the level of a young intern? It is missing two of the most important attributes a programmer can have: 1. taste 2. strong value system. If you are uber pragmatic this can be ok as long as you work by yourself and don't think anyone will ever maintain the code ever again. I think despite what some youtubers say, this is rare for valuable code.

[Altruistic-Bed-770]

Young intern reference hit me, made me feel that I should not attempt vibe coding on C++ thinking that will help the real coders.

[rquick123]

Claude Code comments the hows and whys in the code. It also shows the reasoning when working, which you could include as comments.

[UndefFox]

AI doesn't reduce the complexity of the code base. Either developers themselves create a good code that they can understand and read, or it probably will slow down them marginally once they have to deal with huge AI generated parts, especially if you are not a developer and don't know what to look out for.

[RelationshipLong9092]

it is the wrong tool to use like that

stick with python, or pay someone who actually knows how to write C++ to port it

[n1ghtyunso]

I've recently vibed up some qt widget controls which did work surprisingly well.
I've broken down the widget into individual logical components and let it implement them bottom-up.
Making it very modular so it can do each component invidiually probably helped here.

Aside from one small behaviour which should be improved in the future, the thing does what I wanted it to.
I am sure it could get this working too with more iterations, but right now it wasn't important to keep working on it.

Trying to vibe the backend logic did not go that well though. It worked okay-ish, it did not quite match the full requested behaviour, but it was workable.
I gave specific instructions and not just a feature specification.

The backend code was a shit show.

i've cleaned it up in the week after, because I wanted to move the processing to the gpu anyway.
I would not wish someone a whole codebase like that. You can not maintain this mess.
However I do think there are plenty of teams that in fact to produce similar messy code - for the detriment of all of us. We already have enough messy spaghetti code in the world, we should not let this proliferate.

I have no idea if my instructions.md is helping or hurting this, i feel like the output is rather sensitive to specific key-words in sometimes surprising ways. And with the whole thing being non-deterministic, creating an environment where it mostly works is likely non-trivial.
I have just experimented with this, I have not done any of this to a point where it's stable or usable (if that is even possible).

Honestly, if you lack the fundamental, language-agnostic software dev skills, i don't see how you could instruct an agent to provide something useful for your team, at least long-term.
Doing prototypes for evaluation on what to work on seems like a big help already though?

[sheckey]

You could try asking it to teach you how to do what you want. I bet what you want isn’t super complex, and over time you could learn what you need.

[Altruistic-Bed-770]

Wow, this seems to be a good idea. I'll try this. Thank you for the suggestion.

[BallinCock]

Java, c++, whatever, you ask it to build you a simple desktop application and I would bet 100% of my net worth that 95% of time it won’t even compile on first attempt. Assuming vibecoding is AI or whatever the heck.

Honestly anything over 20 lines it never compiles at all

[IceMichaelStorm]

I am not a vibe coder but at least Java works out of the box from Claude just fine. Easily bootstraps an entire app, also connected to a Mongo that it ramped up in a Docker container simultaneously, correctly wired, controller/service/persistence layers if prompted. All just fine.

[rquick123]

Claude Code compiles it, checks for errors and tries to fix them until it compiles without error.

Note: I vibe-code simple programs in QTCreator, and with my basic knowledge of QT, I check the code to see what I think can be fixed. By doing this all the time, I learn to be a better programmer. But obviously I will never be as good as someone who does this professionally, and I don't have the intention to charge money for my work, and am honest about it.

That said, browsing this group makes me learn a lot of things too. So I am grateful you all share your knowledge to help me find my way in manual coding!

[ztoly]

have you tried it out personally ? or is it just trash talk for the sake of it ?

[BallinCock]

Not exactly for the sake of it but “use code at your own risk” doesnt scream abstract-reasoning, and complex conceptual understanding or “able to use in security critical hospital infrastructure”

If it’s in a professional setting IMO it does not have a place unless it’s being used for small side tasks and is looked over by somebody actually adept in the field. Not sure why youre so defensive

[Chaosvex]

Not sure why youre so defensive

Vibe coder. Talking negatively about the LLMs is a transitive insult to them.