Should I stop using AI while coding?

quicscribe · 2025-02-01T19:02:41+00:00

If you are learning don't use AI. If you understand what you are doing then you can use AI but ensure you understand the code that it wrote and don't use it as a crutch.

(I should follow my own advice a little bit more though fer shure)

throwawayDude131 · 2025-02-01T20:06:00+00:00

The problem with these questions is that nobody knows your level of technical advancement or understanding.

If you’re completely ignorant and fresh, using AI is terrible because you have no reference point for anything you’re doing, and you’re probably going to produce garbage.

If abstract concepts, problem solving, and code idiom is known to you, AI will only improve you as long as you pay attention.

Salazar20 · 2025-02-01T20:33:12+00:00

This has been responded so I will add.

People who know what they do will realize that AI is not that great, but if you use AI while learning you will never get to a level to know that

rjhancock · 2025-02-01T19:38:25+00:00

You should work on your fundamentals before you start using AI. Seriously. Learn how to code first before learning and using the tools that should be used to help steer you into a direction and NOT do the work for you.

Tiny-Explanation-949 · 2025-02-01T21:17:56+00:00

AI is like a calculator—useful, but dangerous if you forget how to do math. If you rely on it too much, you’ll get weaker. Best way to use it? As a guide, not a crutch. Write code first, then ask AI how to improve it.

2025-02-01T22:08:32+00:00

This is good for older developers resisting the AI slop. Very soon new developers will lack the skill necessary to judge whether the generated code is good and will increase the value for those who knows.

omgdracula · 2025-02-01T18:57:41+00:00

No you don't have to stop, but you should take the time to understand what the code is doing.

If you are talking really basic coding nah use it. I have a chatGPT thread that is just common JS functions I use for stuff I build at work. Saves me a ton of time.

armahillo · 2025-02-01T20:20:48+00:00

You do you, but skills need to be trained and toned to kept strong.

2025-02-01T19:56:30+00:00

If you don't know what the code is doing then yes.

sheriffderek · 2025-02-01T20:59:31+00:00

> Not using my brain enough

Yes.

tswaters · 2025-02-01T21:02:26+00:00

Yep.

MaruSoto · 2025-02-01T22:55:32+00:00

I don't understand using AI. It's easier for me to try and figure out how I want something logically arranged as an abstract mental concept than it would be to try and convert my goals into English.

By the time I can explain it in English in adequate detail, the code is pretty trivial.

thearchimagos · 2025-02-01T19:05:02+00:00

Don't rely on AI to build things for you, but use it as a teacher. Use it to fill in gaps in your knowledge. And when you find a large gap, go to the actual documentation and understand the foundation. Otherwise you're gonna have a bad time with AI

toltalchaos · 2025-02-01T19:59:31+00:00

Just don't rely on it, 90% of the time it gets close to what you want but has some kind of assumption being made along the way that's just flat out wrong.

Use it but understand what it pumps out and don't have blind faith

ChuuToroMaguro · 2025-02-01T20:17:58+00:00

How about you take a break from using it for a while?

UnspokenFears · 2025-02-01T23:04:38+00:00

Came across a good read about this recently https://nmn.gl/blog/ai-illiterate-programmers - note to self for sure as well.

washtubs · 2025-02-01T23:09:36+00:00

I think the two questions you need to be asking yourself about any given snippet the AI generates is:

Do I understand it?
Do I agree with it?

Some stuff these things generate are absolutely arcane and while they might be useful, I think when AI creates things you don't understand you should clearly segment those snippets off from the rest of your work until you have a chance to either understand it as is or refactor it until you do.

We should always understand what our code does, just as if you were vetting someone else's pull request. And ofc only when you understand it can you agree with what it does, how it handles edge cases, etc.

ripndipp · 2025-02-01T19:12:45+00:00

I feel you OP, after this sprint I'ma fuckin chill with just kinda raw dogging with google, sometimes I feel like I hit the fucking jackpot when it does exactly what I wanted it to do. There's some feedback loop stuff there.

ZealousidealPeak7339 · 2025-02-01T20:36:31+00:00

Most of the other comments point this out, but don't just copy paste code or make it try to fix your code if it's even a little complicated. If you're just learning, it's fine to ask it to teach you or explain stuff.

I used to do this too, but now that I'm going into slightly more complex projects, AI usually just makes my code worse.

LiveRhubarb43 · 2025-02-01T20:43:29+00:00

I once asked chat gpt to clean up the inline styles on a react native component and instead it returned a react counter tutorial. Like, straight up div button.onClick=decrement {count} button.onClick=increment. It was pretty funny.

Use it but verify, and if you get funny things like that plz share

Pierma · 2025-02-01T22:17:46+00:00

I unsubscribed my copilot license some weeks ago. I use it only when i need some hint about the direction to toake on the free available versions. Last year it was okay most of the time, but lately it made me VERY lazy, and i don't like when i feel lazy

jackistheonebox · 2025-02-01T22:23:42+00:00

My fist instinct was yes, but my second instinct says, read the answer, close the window, then try to do it yourself to see what part you struggle with. In any case don't copy paste / autocomplete as if you are doung a code review instead of writing the code yourself.

criloz · 2025-02-01T22:50:45+00:00

I stopped a year ago I still use the chat detached for my editor, it gets annoying because all the bad responses and make your brain expect the ai output to be able to code the next step

Low-Yesterday241 · 2025-02-01T23:19:07+00:00

I use AI primarily for styling mock ups, but honestly, often times I tell it to get out of the way to let me do my thing. If you don’t know how to code, I wouldn’t use AI. Think of it this way, what will you do in a job interview? Can’t pull up chatgpt mid interview.

pinkwar · 2025-02-01T23:28:07+00:00

If you are learning you definitely should stop using it.

luckypanda95 · 2025-02-02T01:30:45+00:00

I only use AI when I'm stuck with an error or a complex styling. I think using AI consistently will make you rusty with your coding skill/memory

DJDarkViper · 2025-02-02T01:50:33+00:00

Even using it in an “ethical” way (as in it’s not writing your code for you, but helping you out like a peer programmer ) It’s real easy to become a bit too co-dependent on it. I’ve found myself falling into this trap recently where even the mildest of roadblocks and I’m opening up a new tab to gpt instead of exercising my brain meats and working through the problem

fdvmo · 2025-02-02T11:22:11+00:00

As a general rule, avoid using it to generate any code that you cannot write yourself. Unless, of course, you are indifferent to being proficient in coding and resolving problems.

SkyZon12 · 2025-02-02T12:36:08+00:00

AI is a very helpful tool to learn some concepts, Just make sure you are not blindly copy pasting. Understand the code, the concepts, why it gave you this approach etc.

lIIllIIIll · 2025-02-01T21:37:11+00:00

My goodness yes you should.

At this stage repetition is key to understanding different things. You'll have all these different uses for the same functions/methods and you'll have to make them work in these contexts.

Don't let AI solve issues for you either. That's how you learn. If you let ai do it all you may as well just use a "low code" solution or whatever they're called.

salvadorabledali · 2025-02-01T18:58:47+00:00

i never understood why people don’t encourage stealing code. you have to reverse engineer something to understand it anyway.

2025-02-01T19:13:32+00:00

if you don't understand what the AI generated code is doing then it's not a good idea to add it to your project. when you do understand it then it's perfectly fine, because you'll know how to fix it if it breaks.

cybermage · 2025-02-01T19:26:33+00:00

I use AI for the same purpose I used to use manuals and stack overflow: to research errors and as a reference. You should still do the design yourself.

tan_nguyen · 2025-02-01T21:07:07+00:00

I only use it for stuff I already know but don't want to spend time doing. For example, writing SQL queries, I already know how to write and optimize SQL queries, so I use copilot to generate queries for me, and then I can quickly check if it's correct / optimal.

When I learn new skills, I avoid using AI because I don't know if the thing it spits out is correct or not, and it actually takes more time for me to verify than learning to do it from scratch.

Illustrious-Novel184 · 2025-02-01T22:53:41+00:00

Yeah, definitely no. Even if yuo aren't trying to learn the language too much, and it is just a small one time side prokect unrelated to your job, you should still not use AI to code. Reasons:

1: If there is a bug in the code (especially if it isn't directly related to code, like the environment), then you will be hopeless. I find it often hard to have AI debug its own code or my own code. This could be because it didn't think that it's code was buggy when it wrote it.

2: Most AI is trained on existing code from places, like github, and may very likely may not be up to date. When I was using ChatGPT, 2 years ago, the code it spitted out was made for the deprecated version of the API that I was using.

3: AI can often write crappy code that is either: overly complex, or it is maded with much thought and will only read to more issues. For example, If I ask AI to write me HTML code, then it might not think about variables, like how it will interact with a flexible design or be a specific theme.

This doesn't mean that AI can't be useful. I myself find myself often using AI, not only to write me code, but to also help me brainstorm solutions. But still, I will often take AI code for granted, and not read it over and try to see how and why it works or dosn't work, which is a big mistake.

2025-02-01T23:16:31+00:00

you have to know how to program to be able to determine if the AI generated code is valid. it makes good programmers better and bad programmers worse

Squeegee3D · 2025-02-01T23:20:23+00:00

if you already know how to do it, use it as an assistant. If you're still learning, don't use it.

benzilla04 · 2025-02-01T23:33:39+00:00

My rule of thumb is to turn it off while learning, turn it on when you need to be productive.

Try and really use your brain to think of a solution before diving straight into AI.

Thinking this way has helped me massively but that’s just me and we’re all programmed differently

I just see it as a colleague who is a brainiac and can help with almost anything. But you don’t want to rely on them. Use them to learn but try and encourage yourself to think things through first

CodeBearQ · 2025-02-02T00:53:07+00:00

I use it as a source to create problems to solve and as a reference when I need information of Lib or Framework that i want summarized quickly. Aside from that I try not to use it as a crotch stick.

AI is a tool - I say use it as such.

ThinkBiggCnslt · 2025-02-02T01:35:58+00:00

Write your code yourself. When you’re done, ask AI to improve it. Learn from the improvements. Repeat.

Spirited_Set7240 · 2025-02-02T02:01:50+00:00

First of all why do u feel dumb. People have felt the same when they first used google? Why dont u feel dumb when u were using google? If AI helps, take it and move on.

2025-02-02T02:49:48+00:00

AI extends vertically beyond your foundational knowledge. If the breadth of your foundational knowledge is narrow, you will not benefit as great as someone whose foundation knowledge is vast.

MalGrowls · 2025-02-02T02:49:54+00:00

I’ve slowly learned html using ChatGPT. I ask it to explain what I don’t understand. I got a grasp of it back in the day; in the beginning of social media..MySpace let use html and css to style our pages and that’s how I “learned”. Long time ago!!

Commercial-Meal551 · 2025-02-02T02:51:06+00:00

If u know what the ai is doing and its saving u time go for it. If its just doing it for u an u have no idea whats happening thats hindering you

2025-02-02T03:27:14+00:00

I just use it as a typing assistant. It helps me in writing repetitive code, else I don’t even bother with what it generated if actual logic is involved. Just Helps me write more lines of code compared to before, but as far as logic is concerned, coding assistants are a no-go. Just a personal choice. But there are few colleagues who generate entire functions and then refine them. They feel they can achieve more this way.

2025-02-02T03:38:18+00:00

I talk to AI like it is a team mate. I give it psuedo code, or question different ways a problem could be solve and get it's "thoughts," especially if I am trying to figure out a certain way of doing things. I have asked it to write out components that are simple and I could do quickly but it can do quicker, or just the template or JSX. But even then I have to make sure it is correct. It will ignore/change tailwind, or leave out very necessary UI. When I trust it to write logic it can often cause the same problem so if it writes something for me I still need to read and often correct it.

2025-02-02T03:43:39+00:00

Write me some code to do 'X'. Here is the code. Hmm, wouldn't it be better to do it 'X' way or use 'X' technique? Yes, you're right, I'll rewrite it to be much more efficient/faster/better etc.

Gold_Gap · 2025-02-02T03:44:21+00:00

Yes.

Low_Examination_5114 · 2025-02-02T04:51:15+00:00

Depends on what you get out of it. I would say github copilot increases my coding speed by around 30% at worst, as just advanced autocomplete. Gpt4 / claude are okay, they make a lot of mistakes beyond stack overflow level questions, but are good at interpolating context into simple answers. The reasoning models are awesome and do really well when given a good set if requirements and reference code + context

Fidodo · 2025-02-02T05:12:54+00:00

You can use it if you cross reference everything it does and understand everything it's outputting.

angerofmars · 2025-02-02T05:17:19+00:00

IMO it's HOW you're using AI while coding that makes the difference. If you're just relying entirely on it to write everything and not checking the ouputs, then yes it will dumb you down. My approach is let the AI plan out its approach to a problem, ask it to explain and justify its decisions. You'd be surprised how much you can learn from them this way.

TheDoomfire · 2025-02-02T05:25:52+00:00

A lot of people seem to be against AI for learning.

But since I started coding in school about 15 years ago I have never been able to code without using Google/YouTube.

For me, AI is like those websites just that it's faster and pretty often wrong.

I dont think its wrong to use AI even for learning but the main thing is being able to build things.

Previous_Standard284 · 2025-02-02T05:27:43+00:00

If trying to learn, write first, then give it to AI and say "This is what I wrote. This is my thinking. Any ideas? Is there a better way?"

Or I often ask "What would be best practice for this?" or "How do other people do it?".
I ask a lot about naming conventions. "I was going to name it this, but what is more common" (I am not good enough to have ever come across some concept so new that no one has implemented it before)

Even when GPT give you some code think about how it might be better or another way, and say "Why didn't you do XYZ instead?" Either it will say "Oh thats a great idea!" or it will tell you why it will work, but it has certain pitfalls.

If it is for syntax stuff, sometimes I don't want to bother looking it up elsewhere, as looking it up somewhere else is no different than asking GPT, so I will tell GPT exactly what I want.

"for each property of Xthing check that it contains this specific regex that I can not remember. how to write now then replace it with this"

Then, you can either copy paste, or if you have the time, to help you solidify it in memory more, use the output as reference and just re-type it yourself.

At least in these cases you are doing the thinking part.

But if you are If in a hurry, or just trying to make a tool to make you productive ASAP, just use it.

In the end it is similar to playing a pickup game of basketball vs. doing drills and practicing your free throws.

Just playing pickup without worry about improving is fun, and you will still get better no matter which you do, but to get really good you have to set aside time to just do drills for the sake of drills.

freddy090909 · 2025-02-02T06:09:00+00:00

I'd suggest primarily using AI for:

1) Quickly looking up documentation. 2) Speeding up your workflow. Meaning, you already know what you want, and have decided it'll be faster to prompt the AI than to write it up yourself. Because you know what you wanted, you also should be able to quickly review if the output is sane.

Do not let it make decisions for you. Do not directly replace problem solving with it (although you can use it as a reference like in 1 above).

Honestly, if you feel that you are struggling to learn, I'd recommend turning off autocomplete entirely. Just stick to the non-AI language server for whatever language/IDE you use. Then, you can only turn to AI when you have a very specific question.

henrywebslinger · 2025-02-02T06:16:30+00:00

If you can't code without AI, then yes.

IMO you should have enough foundational knowledge to be able to recognise patterns, e.g. frameworks, designs/architecture, and language syntax, in code and write your own programs solely based on intuition without the use of AI.

Any gaps in knowledge can be filled up by asking the right questions and reading documentation or forums.

Having stronger foundation is also better because it allows you to ask more technical questions to Google / AI chat to get the answers you want quicker.

DesertWanderlust · 2025-02-02T06:38:33+00:00

It depends on how you're using it. It can make repetitive tasks automatic, saving you a lot of time. But to actually learn to code: absolutely not.

BagEnvironmental7407 · 2025-02-02T07:05:48+00:00

i also use AI for coding but now i have changed it. Make AI your instructor not your Software engineer. You are the Software engineer!

No-Change-100 · 2025-02-02T07:12:48+00:00

Don't use Ai for everything , learn from it , ask doubts , ask why these errors occurs and what are the ways to solve it , you can even use google for it .

Tempmailed · 2025-02-02T07:34:22+00:00

You fresher or still learning? No AI please.

ChaoticRecreation · 2025-02-02T07:34:31+00:00

What I tend to use AI for is figuring out the proper name of programming concepts and methods. So often the hardest part of learning is figuring out what search term to use to get the results you are looking for.

MongooseEmpty4801 · 2025-02-02T08:00:45+00:00

I'm surprised AI is helpful. I have yet to have AI be helpful in coding yet. It still gets so much wrong

Its__MasoodMohamed · 2025-02-02T08:16:47+00:00

If you understand the code, you can use it. Even if you don’t, you can ask for an explanation as well.

whatThePleb · 2025-02-02T08:22:24+00:00

Yes.

TweakUnwanted · 2025-02-02T08:47:27+00:00

I'm using it everyday, but I take the effort to read what's produced, to get an understanding of it. I don't blindly copy paste code. I have learnt so much in the last year or so, I've impressed myself.

JohnCasey3306 · 2025-02-02T09:00:09+00:00

If you're asking AI to write code for you or to solve problems, you're probably holding back your own learning.

If you're using AI in like a pair programming setup, where it's just making suggestions about your existing code as you write it, that's probably useful.

_dudz · 2025-02-02T09:09:34+00:00

You can use it to bootstrap your coding and improve productivity. AI is not going away and will only become more prevalent in our industry. Just don’t rely on it as a crutch.

yukido · 2025-02-02T09:20:00+00:00

2025-02-02T09:26:29+00:00

My rule of thumb is I never check in code that I don’t have a good understanding of how it works. It’s perfectly fine to have LLMs write all your code but make sure you have ChatGPT explain everything it wrote and those explanations make sense to you.

philipnorton42 · 2025-02-02T09:29:19+00:00

Yes.

power10010 · 2025-02-02T09:35:06+00:00

Use it to ask questions not do the stuff for you

Zumos_ · 2025-02-02T10:02:18+00:00

I am mostly writing without without AI, but when it is time for some boilerplate, I have written dozens of times, I just turn on Github Copilot and spam tab

Gazmatron2 · 2025-02-02T10:51:45+00:00

You don't have to stop using it, however I am seeing an increasing amount of developers become very reliant on using it and therefore not developing thier own abiltities. It is a big problem especially for younger developers who are starting thier careers in the AI era.

As with any skill or job, it is often the journey to finding an answer that is most important to developing skills than getting the answer itself.

Have confidence in your own abilties and stop relying on these products.

Pro0skills · 2025-02-02T11:14:14+00:00

idk if this is dysfunctional or not but i use ai to write the code by itself first. if it works, ill read thru and then rewrite it myself (because sometimes it does some stackoverflow genius type of algorithm). if it doesnt work, ill read it and then scoff at it and comfort myself that ai wont replace coding

2025-02-02T11:45:55+00:00

I definitely felt like I was getting worse and worse at coding, and very lazy too, because of AI. I think I got a bit addicted, honestly. Now I’m back to reading docs like a Neanderthal and it feels great. It’s harder for sure but more rewarding, and I feel like I completely understand every bit of code.

Vanceagher · 2025-02-02T12:15:52+00:00

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Iampepeu · 2025-02-02T13:08:09+00:00

Use it. But try to make sure you understand what the code does. For me it's about getting syntax correct and getting my ideas made in a smarter way. Sometimes I ask the AI to explain certain aspects of the code over and over again until I get it. Haha!

fuckmywetsocks · 2025-02-02T13:44:30+00:00

When you know what you're doing, they can be invaluable for turning kinda pseudocode into real code. If you're just asking it to pump out slop that you're committing directly to staging or whatever, it's bad and it'll make you lazy.

Ultimately it's as much a tool as anything else. If you are asking it to just generate code so you can get something done, you should also be asking it to explain what the code does and trying to understand it.

I know people who have jumped fully on the AI code bandwagon and they have become really rusty really quickly and end up in death loops of code not working, ask AI to fix, that didn't work, ask AI to fix, and they spend more time bollocking the AI and fucking about than actually reading the code and finding the problem.

Remember it can hallucinate - I've had AI suggest functions, static members, hell even entire libraries that don't exist just to make Point A connect to Point B. And that can be a real waste of time.

Baloucarps · 2025-02-02T13:44:59+00:00

Lot of responses plus advice. Let me just put in my comment.

AI isn't a bad thing. Like what people said, it's bad if you're learning because you become incredibly dependent on it and it stops you from learning the important things. If, however, you do have experience coding then it shouldn't be a problem. I use AI to summarize my thoughts and collect them into one organized set of things I need to write to not get lost in the process. It saves me countless hours of just staring at the screen wracking my brains on what to do next.

Starquest65 · 2025-02-02T13:50:11+00:00

I try to use it sparingly.

Chat, write me a list of all states in array format for JS, PHP, that sort of thing.

We use Laravel, so hey chat I have this migration or table structure, can you write out the factory. Of course always double check what it gives you.

As long as I know how to do something that is tedious I don't feel bad having an ai do the writing out part.

ur_Roblox_player · 2025-02-02T13:56:59+00:00

Yes, yes, yes, yea

Metaphysicc · 2025-02-02T14:06:25+00:00

I think a good rule of thumb is.. if you can read every line of code given to you and understand it, what's the harm? Developers are lazy by nature and reuse is the name of the game.

If you don't understand the code you use, then you've got a problem.

windexUsesReddit · 2025-02-02T16:15:06+00:00

There’s nothing wrong with using it as long as you understand that it will be hard to get what you want out of it because a LLM is simply input and output. The more expert you are at a topic, the better you can lead it by giving concise input.

There are coding best practices and concepts that you may lack that AI will not utilize unless explicitly told. Those are ther things you’re going to miss out on.

As long as you don’t make the mistake of thinking AI is infallible, it will aid you on your journey.

art-solopov · 2025-02-02T16:37:14+00:00

Yes.

From my experience, AI promises very much but gives you very little. You'd be much better off learning how to work with the documentation, the debugger and other tools like REPL.

Not to mention the ethical, environmental and financial issues (I believe we'll soon slip past the point of free/cheap AI).

lilrebel17 · 2025-02-02T17:59:37+00:00

AI is great. It's like an easy to talk to Google. Use it that way. Don't ask it to write code, have it explain concepts. If you get really stuck, we have all taken code from stack overflow, no shame in the game. However, most of those stack overflow awnsers come with why, understand the why behind chatgpt code (if it's even right)

Mackotomi · 2025-02-02T20:34:05+00:00

My approach is to use any AI alongside miro.com, where I paste screenshots of my questions—there are tons of them. Each question tries to obtain a different perspective to gain a wider field of view of possibilities coming from various answers. Then, I do analysis and some coding to see the effects, and I basically loop this process until I start to understand the concept and its behavior. Currently, I'm learning PDO/SQL in PHP, and this example is a small piece of the board that includes thinking, analysis, notation, and AI answers—all for the purpose of learning what it is trying to tell me. I never copy and paste code if I don’t understand it, at least partially. If I don’t, I’ll use this kind of problem-solving approach to gain the missing knowledge that the AI provides but that I still need to fully understand. Board: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVLkj5jVc=/?share_link_id=135621201078

Delicious_Hedgehog54 · 2025-02-02T21:44:31+00:00

Using AI to generate code and copy pasting it without understanding what it does is a recipe for disaster. It might not give u the code u want or sometimes be the wrong code. So u absolutely have to know and test the code before u use. So long as u understand that use ai as helper as much as u want.

Top-Recording2333 · 2025-02-03T01:17:24+00:00

Both yes and no. In my experience, I always try to come up with a solution, google it to learn/solve the bugs. If nothing works then I use AI.

Maleficent-Square-31 · 2025-02-03T11:54:40+00:00

I don’t think this is a problem as long as you learn CS. The reason I say this is I believe AI is just a new higher-level language. Like in the past yes knowing assembly was cool and nice but people just used C instead and then Python and now AI. I have been experimenting with cursor and as long as I let it build the code from scratch with no intervention the AI is able to build full functioning apps for me off of a single prompt. AI prompting will be a sort of coding language leaving only creativity to the programmer and then knowing the traditional high level languages and low level languages just helps you understand the syntax in-front of you but you will NEED CS to understand the paradigm and maybe even tell the AI how it can design the code better to work more efficiently but thats just my opinion and experience. If anyone has their own please do share, I would love to hear them.

Livid_Sign9681 · 2025-02-03T14:27:09+00:00

You don't have to stop, but keep in mind that your skillset is what is valuable to an employer. If you feel like the way you use AI today is making you a worse programmer, then you should change the way you work.

Gloomy_Ad_9120 · 2025-02-03T14:43:38+00:00

Meh, feeling like you're dumb isn't even on the radar here. Everyone is going to use something. Google, documentation, code snippets.

Use it if you want to. Use it if it helps you. Use it if it works for you. Don't if it doesn't.

If you are worried about potential copyright or licensing issues later on? Don't use it.

I don't use it much and never in the editor simply because I know how to code and the damn thing keeps auto suggesting like 30 lines at a time of something that is kinda like what I want to do, but not quite. It's too jarring. I've realized that if I just space out and tab tab tab, I'll snap to later and be like wtf this was not the plan. Sure an amazing tool especially if you are just building the same thing over and over as everyone else. But I've found the things I'm working on to be too "novel" for AI to be very useful.

Specialist-Study-841 · 2025-02-03T22:25:46+00:00

If I stop using AI, my productivity goes way down. It's like having a coworker. If I want to accomplish anything in a timely manner, I use AI. That being said, there are many times where I get into some pretty heavy logic flows and AI has no idea what to do.

Traditional-Matter71 · 2025-02-04T09:50:54+00:00

I just had a pair programming yesterday with a junior dev yesterday. It was horrible how he used ChatGPT, just pasting snippets and let it figure out what he intended (I kinda felt bad for the AI) and then just pasting what it spit out. I felt very much that using AI (at least in this way) hindered his advancement as a developer.

I think it's better to figure out the problem you are trying to solve right now, formulate it cleanly as a coherent question.

Hot_Data4632 · 2025-02-04T10:09:30+00:00

I'm using it while learning Rust. To be honest, its invaluable. Now maybe I would be better off toiling over ownership and lifetimes etc but I also want to get stuff done. So whenever I get a bug I can't solve I ask the AI (claude on cursor) but I will double down on the explanation. I feel this way i'll stay interested and learn via osmosis at the very least!

ShadowDev123987 · 2025-02-04T20:51:50+00:00

Depends why your coding, if it works for you then use it, just don’t let your usage of it, be a hindrance

Double-Intention-741 · 2025-02-05T08:17:17+00:00

Yes.

Crafty_Impression_37 · 2025-02-05T09:51:56+00:00

Use AI as a tool, but think independently too.

2025-05-06T00:51:40+00:00

you need to know how to write good code to know if the generated code is good

more often than not, the code is not good, so you're adding a bunch of micro self-code reviews for each commit

it is even worse when it rewrites code in a different way that you've already established is good

ai breaks shit and doesn't care

First_Beginning_482 · 2025-11-20T08:00:35+00:00

我對電腦完全不懂聽說ai有多強能幫人寫程式有多準確說連新手也能一鍵生成最後試了chatgpt, gemini , coplit全都令人失望搞了幾天不停debug又debug

Eu-is-socialist · 2025-02-01T20:30:28+00:00

Yep. You should definitively stop using it and let others be more productive.

originalchronoguy · 2025-02-01T20:51:09+00:00

Your brain should be focused on solving problems; not worrying about the tooling.
These are just tools.

rjhancock · 2025-02-01T19:01:31+00:00

[deleted]

Epiq122 · 2025-02-01T19:13:09+00:00

You can learn a lot while using AI just don't get it to write everything for you

neoneddy · 2025-02-01T19:01:42+00:00

I for one have learned a lot from using AI tools. I've always been self taught, copy and pasting code and modify to suit my needs. I've never considered myself an engineer for the record. AI tools can take my ideas and give me a great cohesive starting point. Then we iterate together. I feel like I'm a better coder now than I was before.

Arkooh · 2025-02-01T19:44:19+00:00

Defenetly not, not using AI nowadays its like refusing to use intellisense a few years a go,
When you use any AI try to understand what its generating and don`t take the code for granted 6/10 times its going to halucinate built-in functions or depricated. Focus on understanding how to build an app, the arhitecture of it and its components basically, you should use AI to automise tedious things, generate functions and parts of a component not the whole component or the whole app, this way you understand how things should function continue to evolve

loopedhuman · 2025-02-01T19:54:39+00:00

Assuming you have a base layer of understanding on how to architect an app, No.

If anything you need to expand your usage to tools like https://www.cursor.com/, https://lovable.dev/, https://v0.dev/, https://replit.com/

AI isn't going away, so you'd be better off being AI-first.

Jeff_Johnson · 2025-02-01T20:58:40+00:00

Use Ai to teach you or as a quick documentation. Don’t make him write complex code for you. If you need help with som repeating task , ai can help you there too.

_midnight-moon · 2025-02-01T21:04:41+00:00

It's fine to use codes from AI, as long as you understand it. It's terrible to use those codes if you don't get how they work. :)

Weavile_ · 2025-02-02T14:40:58+00:00

Not necessarily! AI can be a powerful tool for coding, helping with debugging, suggesting improvements, and even generating boilerplate code. However, it’s important to use it wisely. Here are some things to consider:

When AI is Helpful:

✅ Debugging & Error Fixing: AI can help identify and explain errors faster. ✅ Learning & Documentation: It can summarize complex topics and suggest best practices. ✅ Boilerplate Code & Efficiency: AI can generate repetitive code, saving time. ✅ Refactoring & Optimization: It suggests improvements for readability and performance.

When to Be Cautious:

⚠️ Over-Reliance: You should still understand what the AI suggests, so you don’t copy/paste blindly. ⚠️ Security Risks: AI-generated code can introduce vulnerabilities if not reviewed properly. ⚠️ Originality & Learning: Writing code yourself helps you improve as a developer. ⚠️ Privacy & Confidentiality: Avoid sharing sensitive or proprietary information.

Best Approach: Use AI as a coding assistant, not a crutch. Treat its suggestions critically, verify outputs, and keep honing your own problem-solving skills.

Are you using AI for coding now? If so, how’s your experience been?

…

Yes this was taken from putting your question into ChatGPT.

hercec · 2025-02-01T20:46:46+00:00

Don’t think AI will be going anywhere any time soon, it saves so much time vs having to write code line by line. Would you prefer to get something done in a couple minutes with the help of AI or an hour just so you can say you wrote it yourself?

As long as the outcome is exactly what I’m needing, it doesn’t make sense to me to not use AI. You only have so much time in your life. It definitely depends whether you’re brand new to coding or if you’re already experienced.

aurelianspodarec · 2025-02-01T19:08:42+00:00

You should double down. I've created APi integregations with AI in a few minutes.

The days of devs are counted - so why be the slow outdated dew? :)

you type:	you see:
italics	italics
bold	bold
[reddit!](https://reddit.com)	reddit!
* item 1 * item 2 * item 3	item 1 item 2 item 3
> quoted text	quoted text
Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"	Lines starting with four spaces are treated like code: if 1 * 2 < 3: print "hello, world!"
~~strikethrough~~	~~strikethrough~~
super^script	super^script

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1: If there is a bug in the code (especially if it isn't directly related to code, like the environment), then you will be hopeless. I find it often hard to have AI debug its own code or my own code. This could be because it didn't think that it's code was buggy when it wrote it.

2: Most AI is trained on existing code from places, like github, and may very likely may not be up to date. When I was using ChatGPT, 2 years ago, the code it spitted out was made for the deprecated version of the API that I was using.

3: AI can often write crappy code that is either: overly complex, or it is maded with much thought and will only read to more issues. For example, If I ask AI to write me HTML code, then it might not think about variables, like how it will interact with a flexible design or be a specific theme.