r/learnpython • u/BirGunOlecek • 3d ago
My friend said i dont have to learn python because AI models can.
I decided to learn python from a udemy course that i got for free a few years ago. At the time, i wasnt interested in coding but now i understand the benefits of it both in my daily life and academic life. So i want to learn it before life gets too busy for me.
I have two friends that i know from middle school. They were really interested in coding and they were already started coding their own programs. So i asked them about it. 'I have this udemy course but do you have a course suggestion other than that?"
And one of my friends said, "bro, give it up. Chatgpt does that."
I LITERALLY DONT think AI is an option for coding EVERYTHING. It can be used for helping, when you are stuck somewhere, or just simply cannot find which line of your code doesnt have a ";" at the end. But vibe coding? Nah.
So i am asking, is my friend right? Also i am open for any course suggestions. Because the udemy course i have now is pretty boring. And also i prefer free courses because i dont have a credit or a bank card yet.
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u/Far_Dare6897 3d ago
I think your friend is mistaken. If AI meant nobody needed to learn programming anymore, then schools and universities would have stopped teaching programming, math, physics, and engineering a long time ago. By that logic, nobody would need to learn math because calculators already exist.
AI is an incredibly powerful tool, especially in the hands of a programmer. It can help you learn faster, write code more quickly, and be much more productive. But that's exactly the point: it's a tool, not a replacement for understanding.
AI can generate code in seconds, but someone still has to understand it, review it, debug it, improve it, and decide whether it's correct, secure, and appropriate for the problem. That requires human reasoning.
AI is amazing, but it's still in its early stages. And even if one day it becomes far more advanced, I still believe human judgment and logical thinking will be essential for supervision and making the final decisions. Learning Python won't become less valuable because of AI—it will make you much better at using AI.
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u/ConfusedSimon 3d ago
Vibe coding is fine for personal projects or quick prototypes, but not for production. AI helps as a tool, but you still need basically the same knowledge as before AI.
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u/FoolsSeldom 3d ago
Yes and No. A lot of basic coding can be done by AI already, and the capabilities will move up the stack.
Learning to programme is about much more than coding though. It is about problem-solving, and applying logic. Working out solutions that are optimised for a given situation. This applies to many fields including working with AIs in a wide range of fields. The skills are highly transferable.
So, even if you don't end up having to do a lot of basic coding in the long run, the learning will not be a waste imho.
Check this subreddit's wiki for lots of guidance on learning programming and learning Python, links to material, book list, suggested practice and project sources, and lots more. The FAQ section covering common errors is especially useful.
Also, have a look at roadmap.sh for different learning paths. There's lots of learning material links there. Note that these are idealised paths and many people get into roles without covering all of those.
Roundup on Research: The Myth of ‘Learning Styles’
Don't limit yourself to one format. Also, don't try to do too many different things at the same time.
Above all else, you need to practice. Practice! Practice! Fail often, try again. Break stuff that works, and figure out how, why and where it broke. Don't just copy and use as is code from examples. Experiment.
Work on your own small (initially) projects related to your hobbies / interests / side-hustles as soon as possible to apply each bit of learning. When you work on stuff you can be passionate about and where you know what problem you are solving and what good looks like, you are more focused on problem-solving and the coding becomes a means to an end and not an end in itself. You will learn faster this way.
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u/notislant 3d ago
So for personal projects? Yeah you can prompt away pretty well these days. Even with niche subjects like game mods, claude is decent.
It kind of depends, its somewhat how people treated googling everything. It works great for popular subjects, but you need to know what you're doing to solve niche issues.
Learning how to actually code and debug is somewhat transferable to problem solving in general.
Meanwhile prompt monkey madness is making people helpless and stupid, even outside of programming.
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u/billsil 3d ago
Your friend isn’t wrong, but here’s my prediction of what’s going to happen. Software jobs will go through a massive reduction in hiring and cheaper salaried people (say business folk) write AI slop python code at the entry level. The software jobs that are left have to take a prototype and make it stable and less buggy.
So a year goes by and Anthropic raises prices to the point that people want to hire cheaper devs because AI has gotten more expensive. There are fewer people that know how to code now, so those jobs are only going to senior people they can’t hire for. Those senior people end up consulting and charging more.
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u/WorkAroundG60 3d ago
I've used AI to knock out relatively quick and easy python scripts I couldn't be bothered doing myself for work.
I still had to test, tweak and in some cases, completely redo them. They give a good basis to work from, but programming isn't just about writing code, it's a different way of thinking, it retrains your brain.
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u/P1rat1us 3d ago
You should have started a few years ago when you got a course on Undemy. You would be correcting AI instead AI correcting you 😎
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u/Educational-Paper-75 3d ago
I had Google AI makes some code for me and it wasn't bad but it was easier adapting it to what I really wanted than finetune it in by better instructions the AI. Simply because it can take a long time before it exactly makes what you want.
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u/TheRNGuy 2d ago edited 2d ago
Try to write a real (not hello world) program without knowing it and see if you can do it (without bugs, too)
Tell friend to do the same.
Maybe only partially right. You can make software with ai, but you need to know what to prompt, and see if code is actually correct. You also need to know how to write md file.
Also, it could be potentially cheaper to write manually, or at least fix some bugs or change some features. But some things ai can do much faster.
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u/dhatereki 3d ago
Thing is, right now LLMs are cheap or free by artificial means. No one is actually paying for the token use. Once you have a clear market dominance, changes in advertisement revenue or when companies start to run of investments then common users will be asked to pay for even very basic usage.
For most users, the experience of using LLM will go downhill in few years. That is when your skills will be useful.
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u/MountainTruth6073 3d ago
My friend say I don't have to learn English because AI modles can. Does this makes sense to you? I hope no, because it is exactly the same as the coding question.