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I remember when the term was first coined and it meant something like “asking an llm to code and NOT attempting to validate, fix or correct the outputs yourself. Just keep prompting in natural language until it works.” It was supposed to be a joke - this sort of use hits a wall pretty quickly and illustrates how limited llms can be.
The term has taken off and its meaning is now in flux. I did find it particularly amusing seeing all the LinkedIn lunatics start posting LLM written garbage about “integrating vibe coding Into your workflow” because they thought it was the new buzz word… and I guess they were right.
Wikipedia defines it as
Advocates of vibe coding say that it allows even amateur programmers to produce software without the extensive training and skills required for software engineering.
Now if you replace some words you see how absolutely bonkers the idea in general is:
Advocates of aircraft autopilots say that it allows even amateur pilots to fly large airplanes without the extensive training and skills required for commercial pilots.
Mhhhh Yes and no
Should vibe coding be used in critical infrastructure. Hell nah
But could I could not care less if someone vibecodes a game or the one millionth second brain productivity app.
If you need a quick&dirty piece of code, you can generate it by firing some prompts into an LLM. You can get a decent result if you know what you are doing. It may not be production-ready, but often it’s a good starting point. This is NOT vibe coding.
Vibe coding is what people who don’t know what they are doing do when they try the process above, and think it’s production-ready.
Its a way to imagine you don’t need a developer.
Vibecoding:
- go to chatgpt
- ask it to make an app
- ask it to fix errors (ad infinitum)
- ???
- sell app (optional)
- get sued and ruin your reputation (hopefully)
Largely accurate apart from special-purpose tools usually being employed instead of ChatGPT
The ??? isn’t a reference to underpants gnomes. It’s just that no one has ever gotten LLMs to actually fix its own bugs to find out what that step is
Original definition: using AI to create a small bespoke kinda-crap-but-it-works apps or games for personal use. It’s a shitty proto but it’s interesting.
(My reaction: ooo not my jam but that sounds neat I guess)
Modern definition: it’s a multi-quadrispillion dollar industry and it’s the future according to some very important board members.
(My reaction: …capitalism ruins fucking everything)
Prompt an LLM to write a bit of code that does something. Do this 9000 times until it spits out something that vaguely accomplishes this task. You can’t push any of the fever dream nonsense it created into the main branch until you check it thoroughly. In the end you spend more time with this process than you would have if you’d just written it yourself.
The C suite and the board members continue jerking each other off as they call this “efficiency.”
It’s using AI to ruin your codebase and build technical debt.
I think it is very funny and fully support companies doing this to themselves.
The Microsoft way. gestures at the last several patch Tuesdays
It were they that have been bragging that more than 50% of their code was written by AI, weren’t?
Anyway, that’s counted by lines of code, not in number of mini-vans. They can still use a better statistic.
are… you having a stroke? Blink twice if you need an ambo.
Kids this days won’t even get a dated reference…
It’s going to an llm and typing in the text box “make me an app that does X” then patting yourself on the back for “coding”.
Is that “A1” coding for companies now?
When you go to the ER & just start vibe-coding so now the nurses have to debug you.
/s
Neither do vibe coders.
It’s a great thing to point idea guys towards so they don’t waste your time.
I honestly thought vibe coding was a joke until someone posted a video about it and then realized people were serious.
It’s basically the equivalent to your friend who has a brilliant idea for an app and just needs you to do the coding for it - without having any clue how IT actually works.
Remember when that chess champion accused that other chess champion of cheating? It’s like that.
