My daughter, who's 11, has been doing some vibe coding.
The other day she looked over my shoulder at my IDE and asked: "Dad, was there ever a tim...
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I think the scariest thought patterns we get caught up in as devs are to project growth on to part of the future and view another variable as static. We're not going to be producing the same amount of code with more input — we are seeing an explosion in code churn and the feedback loops created. Managing this feedback loop is a vital skill that rewards system thinking the same way coding always has.
AI isn't just increasing code output it's increasing the rate of iteration, experimentation, and change. The challenge is no longer generating code; it's understanding the system, managing complexity, and ensuring the feedback loop produces better outcomes rather than more noise.
Hey @greggyb. Hope you are having a good morning, afternoon, or evening!
This process felt like yesterday for me! I remember when it stopped around my undergraduate years when ChatGPT was first announce.
The process was fun because it enabled my brain to think critically. Nothing wrong with AI and I think it is a good tool. I just feel like we are relying it too much to the point where we can't even explain what the code does.
Compare to the old process, at least you were actively try to problem solve by search up documentation, reading other people's code, etc. For Vibe Coding, you just "trust".
Midway, I was writing an article on what @sylwia-lask posted, but going to reference this post as an addition! Thanks for sharing!! :D
i’d push back slightly. knowing what to write used to mean syntax and API names. knowing what NOT to write - that part hasn’t changed at all. the bad tradeoff, the overfit solution - Emma will still need that judgment, just later.
The follow-up question is always more interesting than the first. Hand-writing code versus AI-generated code isnt really the comparison that matters. The real shift is in what "understanding the machine" means. In the old days, you had to understand at a low level to build anything useful. Now you can be productive without that understanding — but you hit a ceiling fast when something breaks. I learned to code by debugging. Breaking things, reading error messages, staring at assembly output. That process built intuition that I cant imagine how youd get otherwise. Not sure thats an argument against AI tools — but it might be an argument for learning the hard way first.
Emma's follow-up is the whole job, and the hopeful part is that her question survives every tool you named. The circular saw changed how you cut, not how you know what to build or when it's done. "How did you know what to write" just moved up a level, from how do I express this to how do I know this is the right thing and that it's right. She already has the instinct. A kid who asks "but how did you know" is asking the exact question the profession was built on. She'll feel its full weight the first time the AI hands her something that runs and isn't what she meant, and that's the moment she meets the craft you spent a career on, not the moment it disappears.
Learning the fundamentals of coding/programming is as easy as pi. There are numerous organisations that cater for that like kidscancode.org I would say these skills are as important to get some familiarity with as arithmetic and broadening your general knowledge, especially in the STEM fields.
I am a long time software programmer and I fully embrace "vibe-coding" with the explicit understanding that you're the master in control, and ultimately decide what must be done for any particular project. If you don't then that is fine, as long as you are committed to not be a passive participant, but meaningfully engage in the process, so you keep on learning and growing.
Ah, the good 'ole TRS-80. I remember those days well. Having a screen and keyboard was quite the upgrade from punch cards.
I might still have a cassette tape or two sitting around from those days....
That follow-up is sharper than it sounds. "How did you know what to write" was never really about the typing, it was knowing what to build, which tradeoffs matter, what "done" looks like. The keystrokes moved to the AI, but that judgment just relocated into the prompt. Your daughter basically pointed at the actual job and called it the easy part. 🙃
That early part of the 2000s was the peak of that "knowing what to do with IT" times. That was when interest in Wikipedia and Stack Overflow were at the peak and still rising. Open source projects were coming in from left, right and center, folks actually started enjoy them for the sheer joy. Even some mobile and PC OEMs had started taking keen interest in Linux and Android.
It lasted until 2020 when COVID came and then AI, then everything got devastated.
That paused you? Isn't that the fundamental aspect to ANY craft doing anything whatsoever - you first have to learn what to, where and how? How do you know in which order letters are placed to write words? How do you know how to multiple numbers?
The interesting part is that the question shifts from syntax to agency. Kids do not inherit the same boundary between "writing code" and "directing software" that older developers do.
That makes the teaching problem different too. The durable skill is not memorizing every construct first; it is learning how to specify intent, inspect the result, and understand enough of the system to know when the tool is lying or taking shortcuts.
This is such a sweet — and quietly devastating — exchange with your daughter. "But how did you know what to write?" cuts right to the core. We spent decades getting good at knowing, and now the craft is shifting to validating.
The power tools analogy is spot on. But here's the difference: a circular saw still needs you to measure, mark, and keep your fingers clear. The cognitive load moved from cutting to layout. Same with AI coding — the syntax is cheap now, but figuring out what "correct" looks like is still yours.
One thing I'd add to the "how did you know" answer: we used to know because we had to hold the whole mental model of the system while typing. Now that model can live in context windows. The scary part isn't losing the typing — it's whether we're losing the muscle of holding complexity. Emma might never need that muscle, but someone will.
Also, your daughter vibe-coding at 11 is incredible. But have you shown her what happens when the AI confidently hallucinates a function that doesn't exist? That lesson — "trust, but verify with a small test" — might be the most valuable one she learns this year.
Anyway, this post made me smile. The barrier falling is real, and kids like Emma are the proof. Thanks for writing it.
Your imaginary daughter asked you jack shit, you clown.
Power tools didn't eliminate woodworking they changed what craftsmen spent their time on. AI feels very similar for software development.
TRS-80,never heard of it but just looks like BASIC; my first programming language I learned when I was in 6th grade.
She nailed it: intent was the original interface. The tools just changed how intent is expressed.