I RUN ZIG INIT TODAY!
Learning to code in the age of AI is actually is quite disadvantageous,there is no craft in code, no patience in the creation process. There is too much emphasis on shipping fast.
My programming journey started in the age of AI where we had been subjected to the most weird software engineering experiment ever, a tool that makes building things a passive endeavor . I just asked an chat bot to write a function that does something and it did for me faster than I could ever type. This is was otherworldly in that instance, I had magical box that gave me the blocks I needed to construct all my imagined castles.
I had my editor open and a chat bot ready to spit out functions, classes and any program construct on demand to build my castles. I eagerly collected my blocks from the chat bot and assembled in them in my editor and hoped all will just click into place simply because an LLM said so . Wonderful, isn’t?
But the challenge quickly merged. The blocks did not match , sometimes I would have red blocks in a blue wall, a square block in a floor protruded above the floors, anyone walking across would surely stub their toe.
I soon realized this was bad idea I was asking something that had never seen or felt a wall to build a home for King(user) who had no patience for inconvenience. That, in essence, is what is using AI to code felt like to me.
Big tech has now made this tool an integral part of the coding experience. They have brought a bull into our small construction site. We are expected to watch, follow its instructions, and accepts what it tells us do without ever questioning or thinking om our own. When the king arrives and stubs his toe I am the one blamed for the making the square block that caused the pain.
In essence I want to experience that Aha! Moment of of understanding things at much deeper level, learning that makes the hand, mind and heart in sync as I work on my projects like an artist does in in their creations.
I thought long and hard about this because for me computer science or in general programming is not just something I do to earn a living I do it for the thrill of it . The happiest moment in my programming journey was when I first got to understand why arrays are the fundamental building blocks of every data structure possible in computing , and how memory is simply array of bits(technically an array of bytes) with addresses , I want to feel that as I learn and work in this field in this age of AI and the only way to do that is.
The reality of our time is clear: AI is here , it codes and it lives in our construction site with an over-helpful posture, poking its nose in every thing we do. How do we navigate this now and what is my plan?
Here is the plan.
Ride the wave. Use Typescript/Javascript, Python or whatever language you prefer to learn how to code with LLMs, meeting the speed our world demands. But find that one language that you never let an LLM write code for you. Your sacred language. Use it to build perfect castles.
For me I choose ZIg. Not because it is fast or a “better”programming language , a conclusion I have no experience to make but because I find it interesting and I love how the community has strict rules on LLMS.
You sacred language should be that one you pour your hand, mind and heart into. The language you use to experience true mastery and elegance.
What I am building
I will be building small CLI tool called Zigget inspired by this webi-installer
It might take me months but it will be worth it.