Remembering Why We Code: Dropping AI for Fundamental Learning

Excitement

I wanted to share my excitement of forcing myself to build without using AI.

I would say I've been learning to code semi-consistently for roughly 3 years. Most recently, I started a class called Java 2. It builds on foundational concepts learned in the previous class. I feel I might be spread a bit thin, dabbling over here in Ruby, dabbling over there in Python, and then poking around at Java on Sunday afternoon. Good thing they share the overarching concepts or it would be utter confusion. ¯(°_o)/¯

As many of us have been leaning heavily into AI to build amazing things at lightspeed, I made the conscious decision to not open a single AI tool as I power through the first assignment of the class. I said to myself "No, I'm going to struggle because I want to understand." And I can tell you, after using AI constantly, this was a wakeup call to the real rewards that exist when you stop relying on AI.

I did google a few things, but that is allowed if you ask me. This is the internet, after all.

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Getting Things to Click Again

At some point in my assignment things started clicking again. That was an amazing moment. A class can have methods, we can call those in the main function, I can nest switch statements for nested menus, and I can debug in real life with minimal resources! Twice I got stuck, and twice I came out the other sided with that excited "**** yes, it's working!" moment - a feeling I have been missing for some time. The feeling that you struggled and powered through it and figured out what was seemingly impossible by yourself.

Here is the sub-menu I built today with a nested switch statement.

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Scanner;

// Runs a console program that lets the user add and analyze texts,
// then stores and prints the texts entered during the session.
public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
        List<String> texts = new ArrayList<>();
        boolean running = true;

        System.out.println(" --------------------------------");
        System.out.println("|      Paragraph Parser         |");
        System.out.println(" --------------------------------");
        System.out.println();


        while (running) {
            System.out.println("1. General Text Analysis");
            System.out.println("2. Do a specific text analysis");
            System.out.println("3. Display Texts");
            System.out.println("4. Exit");

            int choice = readInt(scanner, "Choose an option: ");

            switch (choice) {
                case 1:
                    Text analysisResult = displayText(scanner, "Add text to analyze:\n");
                    System.out.println(analysisResult);
                    break;
                case 2:
                    // nested switch for sub-menu text analysis tools
                    Scanner scannerNestedScanner = new Scanner(System.in);
                    boolean extraTestRunning = true;

                    while (extraTestRunning) {
                        System.out.println("1. Word frequency finder");
                        System.out.println("2. Find frequency of specific character");
                        System.out.println("3. Find the number of unique words");
                        System.out.println("4. Return to main menu");

                        int extraChoice = readInt(scannerNestedScanner, "Choose text analysis tool (Enter number): ");
                    switch (extraChoice) {
                        case 1:
                            WordFrequency wordFrequency = new WordFrequency(displayText(scannerNestedScanner, "Enter the text to search through:\n").content.toLowerCase());
                            String wordToFind = displayText(scannerNestedScanner, "Enter the word to find its frequency:\n").content;
                            wordToFind = wordToFind.replaceAll("\\p{Punct}+", "");
                            //strip punctuation so it doesn't affect the word frequency count
                            System.out.println("Word frequency analysis for: " +wordToFind+ " -> " + wordFrequency.findWordFrequency(wordToFind));
                            break;
                        case 2:
                            CharacterFrequency charFrequency = new CharacterFrequency(displayText(scannerNestedScanner, "Enter the text to analyze:\n").content);
                            System.out.println("Character frequency analysis for: " + charFrequency.getCharacterFrequencyCount(displayText(scannerNestedScanner, "Which character are we looking for? Enter a character:\n").content.charAt(0)));
                            // Add your extra test logic here
                            break;
                        case 3:
                            UniqueWords uniqueWords = new UniqueWords(displayText(scannerNestedScanner, "Add text to count unique words:\n").content);
                            System.out.println("Number of unique words: " + uniqueWords.getUniqueWordCount());
                            break;
                        case 4:
                            extraTestRunning = false;
                            break;
                        default:
                            System.out.println("Invalid option for extra test.");
                        }
                    }
                    break; // Add this break to prevent fall-through from case 2 to case 3 in the main switch.

                case 3:
                    System.out.println();
                    displayTexts(texts);
                    break;
                case 4:
                    running = false;
                    break;
                    // Fall through to default case if needed.
                default:
                    System.out.println("Invalid option. Please try again.");
            }
        }

        System.out.println("\nFinal text list:");
        displayTexts(texts);
        scanner.close();
    }

I discovered that having nested switch statements is both doable and useful. I heard somewhere that this is often used in games and it's nice to have an understanding of how one might incorporate that.

Guys I seriously encourage you, put down the AI just for a few hours and fight with something. Your old self, those feelings you have been missing, they will return! Instant youth, almost guaranteed. XD

Tell me, what have you recently challenged yourself to build without using AI?