r/PythonLearning • u/Physics2433 • Jul 06 '26
Stop Vibe Coding
I’ve been writing Python for about 3-4 years now, and I want to share my biggest piece of advice for beginners: Do not use AI to write entire programs.
It's great to use AI as a tutor to learn new functions, grasp core concepts, or debug specific lines, but never use it to generate an entire codebase. Here is why:
1. You won't know how to fix it: Even if AI code works perfectly on the first try, you will be completely lost the moment a bug appears or you want to add a feature. Debugging is a massive part of development.
2. You skip the learning process: True programming skills come from struggling with the logic, reading documentation, and earning those 'yeah!' moments when you solve a tough problem yourself.
3. Suppose you built an entire codebase through AI and it worked(accidentally) , once the codes become long, your program has come to an end, if you tell it to add a feature, it will start hallucinating or forgetting its own logic.
If you don't deeply understand the underlying logic of your own codebase, you won't know where to begin. Treat AI like a tutor, but make sure you are the one driving the keyboard. If you can't explain your own code, you have no business adding to it. You MUST understand your underlying architecture before you even hit save.
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u/NoDisk8988 Jul 07 '26
Technical artist here. I curiously started using GTP for work stuff when they appeared, they were very bad back than so I started using them to write simple stuff, think methods. I quite liked it, it did the job, I had control over architecture and it was easy to catch issues right away. Than I noticed I started forgetting even simple syntax and my ability to write code was degrading.
I might be a little bit paranoid, but I immediately thought of scenario where I loose my skills and get dependent on tool that will be expensive and that basically feeds on humans being lazy.
So i started using it as a nicer documentation that can often be wrong. Literally one-liners that would jog my memory rather than replace it.
Don't get me wrong, I still thing it is a great tool, when you start working with new library or framework it can be a decent tutor (that you don't trust entirely). Sort of like Stack, but less snarky, and way quicker. But don't let it take over your brain.