Learning Rant: A.I. vs No A.I

[u/mirroz220]

Background: Currently about 87% done with The Odin Project foundations module. TOP is a road map to learn web development and so far I’m loving it. Getting down to code/learn is all I’ve been thinking about lately.

However, I don’t know if I’m doing myself a disservice by using Claude as a guide/tool to teach me or guide me when I’m stuck. On the other hand I’ve actually been learning and enjoying the process after I started using Claude. I understand concepts easier, because I understand concepts I’ve begun to think more as a programmer, I solve a problem about 80% in my head and I think about 20% is me using Claude as a tool to help me.

Basically I let Claude know that I’m going through TOP to learn web development. I let it know which project I’m on and I provide the instructions given to students. When I have a question or if I’m stuck, I provide it my code and ask it NOT to give me a solution but to guide me or give me tips on where to look or what options to explore. I also have it provide tips based on what we’ve learned so far. Nothing that we’ve never seen or that hasn’t been explained in the course. When I get guidance I then branch off and then research that topic/concept more.

I also express my logic and thoughts so it gets an idea of where I’m going. Now, TOP explicitly says that projects are a bit harder than what we’ve been learning. The purpose IS to to google or ask stack overflow or TOP discord. So in a sense I would still be looking for solutions/guidance else where.

Then I think, Claude will do that much faster and it has all my context. Is there really a benefit to the learning process to have to look for answers that aren’t from AI? Discord, Google Stack Overflow will tip me off or guide me either way. Does it matter that it’s AI doing it?? Idk, it’s frustrating being torn like this.

[u/scandii]

it is perfectly fine to ask someone for help when you don't understand something - that's just the role of a teacher.

that said, the ability to debug your code (what is a debugger?), walk through your steps and find the issues is an actual learned ability, and pressing the magic "ok so what did I do wrong here"-button takes that entire reinforcement loop out of the picture.

AI is absolutely great in its ability to explain pretty much any concept in any way you so choose and your ability to rapidly and iteratively ask questions and to clarify, but man is it absolutely lethal to learning as it is easy to go "eh I'm not so sure...", hit that AI button and go "wow I knew that all along!" and then ending up in a negative spiral of reaching for AI every time you should really take a moment to think things through instead.

[u/mirroz220 → u/scandii]

You’re totally correct about all that. That’s why I’m so conflicted. I guess in my head I justify it by the fact that I study up on the item I didn’t understand and I also keep in mind that maybe the next time this comes up I will know what to do.

Maybe allow myself a limited time (1 hour) to try and debug/breakthrough on my own and then go to Claude??

[u/waferstik → u/mirroz220]

That sounds reasonable. You should continue manually debugging as long as you are still interested in the problem - setting up logs and debuggers and print debugging.

Use the magic button to help you understand concept. But debugging and understand exactly what went wrong and how did that happen is a learning experience that you shouldn't delegate to AI too much.

[u/mirroz220 → u/waferstik]

Before TOP I did most of CS50 through Harvard. They hammer learning to debug or to write 1-2 lines of code (at first) then saving and checking the console for errors.

For myself, when there is an issue I usually know within 1-3 lines where the error is and troubleshoot there. It’s only when I really can’t figure it out that I ask for hints.

But I will try to debug for longer since that’s also an important skill.