I might be late to the party, but better late than never.
When No Coding entered it’s emergence a number of years ago, tools like Google Apps and Power Apps were seen as the apps that would free us from the Tyranny of programming – no longer would someone need to sit by a keyboard and type out commands.
To be honest, I never knew typing out commands on a keyboard was a bad thing and quite frankly enjoy the euphoria it brings when my program BUILDS and then RUNs, and don’t get me started on when I hit that magical BREAKPOINT I’ve been searching for.
You don’t get that feeling with No Code I GUARANTEE!
No Coding
I spent time with a few platforms when looking at No Coding, or being asked to build applications without coding, and the first thing I had to do Was Code.
I had to write syntax in whatever expression language the platform was using, I had to know about variables and how to access and store data, etc, etc.
So the No Coding Revolution never did it for me. Perhaps I was reaching too high in what my expectations for myself were, but to be honest, I could never get them to do what I wanted.
Perhaps it was my harsh upbringing with a keyboard and mouse that forced me down this path. I always wanted to dig deeper and see how something truly worked behind the scenes. I wanted to tweak what was in front of me.
I haven’t spoken to a Product Manager who has “No Coded” from scratch and made the perfect app they could deliver without a Development team (again, it could be because I love coding syntax that I’m missing out on this crowd.
Vibe Coding
And now, herein comes Vibe Coding, which,h to be honest, I think is a wicked name, like, “I have a vibe for a product and I need to build it,” but it’s not that at all (or maybe it is). What it is is coding applications 100% via prompts to AI platforms and letting them build the app for you.
Yeah, I could see, if spoken correctly, something like that might have to happen, but honestly, I don’t always speak clearly and more importantly…
HOW DARE YOU TAKE AWAY THE JOY I GET FROM WATCHING MY CODE COMPILE AND BUILD – IT CAN BE THE BEST PART OF MY DAY!
Seriously, though, this is the part I enjoy, and it might not be efficient (I guess), but it is enjoyable, and we do, do jobs because they are enjoyable, right?
Speaking into a computer, telling it what to do for me, feels like cheating. It’s the same way when I write, I use that dang old keyboard and don’t use diction apps. It quite honestly feels weird to be sitting there, spewing words at the screen and asking the computer to take the wheel and do the writing.
Not only that, but how are we all going to code on planes and trains now? Are we going to be on flights, listening to people dictate their AI Prompts and Vibe Code on an 8-hour flight to Sweden instead of my gentle little tappity tap of my keyboard?
Just Coding
Don’t get me wrong, I’m using AI and it’s helping me big time in not only improving me code, but teaching me new ways to approach problems.
- Github Copilot is a great tool to get input on your code, make suggestions, and take Intellisense to make it very intelligent.
- Starting new projects and asking AI to get new libraries from disparate sources and do some high-level coding and mockups is great when you don’t know the libraries you need, per see.
- Figuring out problematic syntax issues (I’m looking at you, Power Automate… a “No Codish” solution) has been a massive lifesaver.
The biggest changes (and I know it’s early, and I’m learning AI as we speak, and I definitely don’t know it all) that I’m seeing in my coding process to date, I am barely using forums anymore to resolve issues. As sad as it is, my use of problem resolution on AI platforms is helping greatly and massively decreasing the time I spend searching for solutions that match my exact criteria.
I know I’m coming at all of this from a programmer/developer background – so of course I’ll keep coding and start to code AI applications as we go – but fully transforming me from Keyboard coder to No Code/Vibe Coder – it won’t be happening.
And ChatGPT thinks I have nice penmanship to boot, so there is that too!