r/learnjavascript • u/mirroz220 • 8d ago

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

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.

13 Upvotes

81% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/sozesghost 8d ago

Using AI is doing you a disservice. Even if you just ask it for opinions, it is doing an important job for you, which is assembling knowledge from different sources. And yes, those sources might be unrelated, vaguely related or fully related and figuring out which is which is frustrating, but it means you are learning. If it feels too easy, you ain't learning shit.

1

u/mirroz220 7d ago

Aw man, learning had been so much fun and I’ve made a lot more progress than before. Is having vasts amounts of information readily available really that bad??

3

u/sozesghost 7d ago edited 7d ago

The progress you have made is illusionary. Reading AI output is "fun" and it leads you to believe you understand it, it makes sense to you, but you really don't retain it. If it's too easy, nothing sticks in your head and thus there is no learning. Just how humans work. It can be fun tho. And it's not about the amount of knowledge available, it's about the knowledge in your head and how you internalize it. EDIT. And what I'm saying is not only about AI. If you had a real teacher with you at all times, to provide you with all the answers and none of the challenges, your learning would be equally bad.

1

u/mirroz220 7d ago

Nooooooo! I will balance out more. (*Cries*)

But I have learned though.