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Cathy Lai
Cathy Lai

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Coding with AI (Cursor + auto mode) Diary #1 - Practical Notes

Today’s adventure with AI was an interesting mix of “wow, that’s helpful” and “hmm… maybe not that.”

I was fixing a small bug when I noticed the AI-generated saveHouses function was also calling setHouses() to set the state. The code still worked, but that hidden side effect isn’t ideal — it makes the logic less predictable and cause re-renders.

But at the same time, AI gave me a clean code review: it spotted redundant lines instantly, suggested a better edge-case handling, and even drafted a full architecture document with diagrams. Honestly, that part felt like magic.

✅ What AI Was Helpful For Today

  • Pointed out redundant lines I missed
  • Suggested a cleaner approach for an edge case
  • Generated an architecture document + diagrams

⚠️ What AI Was Not Helpful For

  • Added an unexpected side effect (setHouses() inside a save function)
  • Needed human oversight to maintain clean architecture

Today reminded me that pairing with AI is a bit like pairing with a very fast junior developer: super helpful for cleanup and documentation, but still needs guidance on architectural decisions.

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