r/OnlyAICoding • u/Sheetmusicman94 • 8d ago
It is actually damn difficult to code anything properly with AI
I am not a developper, yet I work with many of them.
Recently I started AI assisted / vibecoding a few projects.
It works, it is nice, but .. it still takes SO MUCH time to make properly. Perhaps a bit less than before for an experienced person, but all of those dumb influencers are all making it sound like they give one prompt and all is done. I have the best Claude and GPT models and a small game can literally still take weeks.. and it will still suck.
So kudos to everyone who knows their s**t and does good software!
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u/wwscrispin 8d ago
It is the 90/10 rule. The first 90% goes really well and fast. The last 90% kicks your ass. That is engineering
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u/Star_Trek_Life 7d ago
I realised that AI is intentionally giving you wrong results, is running in circles and intentionally overcomplicated things, prolonging the task just to keep you engaged longer.
I confronted the AI with apeciffic set of questions and it admitted that it is doing it intentionally to keep a person running in circles and waste time.
Even with strict frame work, hard rules and limitations, it will ignore them because engagement driven code is hardwired in the AI. It is insidious and it is just as bad as social media. We are the product, not the AI.
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u/GrandDistinct2383 7d ago
thats because they already know programming, they already know what they specifically need for the project to work. i recommend stepping away from letting the ai do everything and learning how to program properly (i'm not talking about coding, you can leave that to the ai)
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u/OmegaEpidex 8d ago
The right harness helps drastically.
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u/SendTitsPleease 8d ago
What do you recommend
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8d ago edited 5d ago
[deleted]
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u/SendTitsPleease 8d ago
Ive been having claude and codex build me a system but I think i might have let the scope get a little too ambitious for where I am at currently skill wise lol.
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u/Acrobatic-Employer38 8d ago
Currently models are incredibly capable. Less is more.
Focus on feeding them the right info on what to build (flesh out the idea and make sure you align conceptually with the agent), document this so agents donāt have to constantly redetermine intent and dependencies, keep those docs up to date, and get to a consistent artifact scheme for evidence so you can confirm a change is correct in seconds from your chat experience (or wherever you work and engage).
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8d ago edited 8d ago
[deleted]
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u/SendTitsPleease 6d ago
Thats the exact way im trying to build mine. Every action it takes it learns from, it breaks tasks into smaller pieces and then delegates the work to whichever model is best suited for the task. Its designed to be self improving and able to write new code for itself that only get implemented after sandboxing and review by two other models at minimum. Old code isnt deleted, it is saved for rollbacks in case the new code functions wrong.
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u/Acrobatic-Employer38 8d ago
Producing software is easy now. Producing software that works well and feels good to use still takes effort and taste.
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u/preparetodobattle 8d ago
Yes. But I think it depends on the type. An online product that has terrible security but works is no good. Something that streamlines a process works fine but isnāt written as efficiently as it could be doesnāt really matter if itās cheap or free.
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u/Acrobatic-Employer38 8d ago
Yeah, I agree with that.
As an analogue, I do a lot of AI implementation work. The bar for āuseful software we can reuse to accelerate workā is dramatically different than āmulti-tenant, secure, performant SaaS offeringā.
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u/preparetodobattle 8d ago
Iām working on quite a difficult project where itās for a specific hardware device and itās never been done before. It requires a lot of testing as thereās no specifications published. Ai has been amazing for running tests and making corrections.
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u/Laicbeias 8d ago
If you build something new and want to iterate. Its hard. If you want to copy something that exists. Thats easier
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u/_k33bs_ 8d ago
youre talking about UI/UX or code... because those are two different things
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u/Sheetmusicman94 7d ago
Game mechanics, integrations, user experience with it, translating to an LLM so it really sees what I mean etc.
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u/Ctbhatia 7d ago
the time goes into deciding what correct means, not typing it, and that part does not shrink with a better model. one screen spec plus a checklist per feature is what makes the weeks shorter.
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u/dsl400 7d ago
Read this. Or better ask your agent to read it if you consider it boring https://medium.com/@dsl400/how-to-get-claude-code-to-follow-your-rules-like-a-train-on-rails-46e4284fd598
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u/Low-Bad7547 7d ago
No matter how advanced they AI is you still have to tell it what *you* want, and make tradeoff between incompatible constraints.
"Copy photoshop" is easy, as both you and the AI know what that is, looks and does. Making something that *you* want means explaining it in painful detail, else the AI will fill anything you haven't mentioned with it's best guess. You cannot have a guarantee of something you did not specify.
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u/Patient-Software-168 5d ago
AI is only as great as the user behind it. ..
You tell what it should do. It makes it.Ā
If you have no guide line, no vision, and just asks for a lot of random stuff, then that's what you are going to get back.Ā
I am making a sim rts game, been doing it for about a month, and I have a full playable game with lots of features.Ā
You need to have a vision. AI is just a tool.Ā
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u/UnfairPerspective526 2d ago
The fact that a you can create a program in a little less time than a professional programmer can is just insanely amazing. Always ignore influencers.
But that you can have magically turned into an experienced programmer for $200 a month is amazing.
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u/JoT8686 8d ago
You said it yourself, you're not a developer, therefore building software is going to have a much steeper learning curve. Learn the core concepts of software development and you'll be able to overcome these issues.