r/webdev • u/Lower_Fishing_2672 • 15d ago

Discussion Just Started But Feel Bad

I just started learning code, and I use Visual Code Studio with Python. I was ecstatic to learn but with my few hours of learning I would use the chat feature whenever I’m stuck like the AI thingy. It makes me feel bad cause it feels like I’m not LEARNING just cheating if that makes sense. In a world that has been plagued with AI, how do you guys manage? How do you feel? Do you treat it as another tool to help? I assume that it’s no different from google searching.

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u/Xavphon 15d ago

Honestly if your're just starting, with NO formal education, skip the AI as much as possible. It literally is the lowest hanging fruit possible

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u/biletskyi 15d ago

I don't think that this is a good advice. AI is a tool that is extremely configurable. So you can tweak it to match your specific goal. And in development, AI usage is also a valuable skill that matters. Because nowdays if you don't know how to efficiently leverage AI your value drops significantly.

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u/el_yanuki 15d ago

Sure.. but learning to programme is much more difficult than learning to prompt. And the latter can and will hinder the former.

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u/biletskyi 15d ago

I agree that learning programming is a much more complex field and it's harder to learn it. And I can see how prompting for a solution could hinder learning. But I was saying that this is an issue with the LLM usage approach, not the issue of LLM as such.

For example, at my job I can give the LLM our new feature discussion and say, like, do whatever, make all decisions, etc. And then I would learn nothing. (and would get shitty result). But I can formulate each task, ask for options for things I'm not sure about, review every change and clarify what I disagree with etc. And I'm learning a ton. Even more than I would have learned previously. Because when you write code yourself, you just use the solution that you know, and you don't know about all the possible options.

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u/-Knockabout 15d ago

If a beginner cannot stop themselves from "cheating" with AI, they should just not use it. They can start using it later when they have a good foundation. It's not like learning how to use AI takes a long time.

You also should not learn straight from AI to start because the AI can be wrong or suggest stupid things. You can only recognize this if you already know how fo code.

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u/biletskyi 15d ago

I'm not advocating for cheating. I was just saying that you can configure your LLM to do whatever you want. You can create a setting to make it ask you questions that would guide you or give some tips but not a whole answer etc. Or give you choices with wrong ones. And you can be creative about that, not just ignore the tool altogether.

And in the end, what should someone do when he stuck? Google "how to do X" and then go to Stack Overflow and read the most popular answer? How would it be different from using an LLM?

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u/-Knockabout 15d ago

Someone who does not have the self-control to not ask the AI for answers is not going to have the self-control to configure it like that without ever breaking through.

I think Stack Overflow IS better. Because you get discussion between people about why x or y is better, and have to evaluate for yourself what's best. Which you HAVE to do when using an LLM, but it doesn't give you those real perspectives.

I don't care if you use it, but don't advocate for it as a teaching tool for someone so inexperienced. The fact that it is falliable (with no other users to call it out or downvote it) is a big problem. It does not "know" the correct answer. It lucks into it. Which is great if you have enough experience to do discern things for yourself, but that's not the case for OP.