Ask HN: What would you recommend a vibe coder learn about how all this works?

I'm a writer who started building with AI coding tools about 8 months ago. No programming background. It's been one of the most fun things I've ever done.

I want to understand more about what's actually happening. What are the big concepts that, once you get them, make everything click in a more interesting way? The stuff that made you go "oh, THAT'S what's going on."

10 points | by alexdobrenko 10 hours ago

6 comments

  • t312227 31 minutes ago
    hello,

    as always: imho (!)

    recognize that software-engineering is not about writing / vibing code but to solve (!) problems.

    nobody cares if the code which solves a problem is generated / copied / written ... as long as it was legally obtained ... ;))

    anyway: code is liability, every line of code which was not written to solve a problem keeps future maintenance-costs low(er) ...

    additionally especially for non-trivial problem-solutions - read: projects -, its essential to have maintainable code. which means, code that is ...

    * easy to understand ~ new developers

    * easy to extend ~ new features

    * easy to sustain ~ update dependencies, update the underlying runtime-environment etc.

    especially if it solves a complex problem for a company, the code may be used for years or even decades =?> keep that in mind!

    just my 0.02€

  • segmondy 1 hour ago
    you have to choose to keep vibing or learn to code. there's a possibility that programming might not matter and being good at vibing would be what matters. no one knows yet ... for now it does pay to know how to.
  • whattheheckheck 2 hours ago
    Reading The Language of Machines book and the Linux Programming Interface.

    Teachyourselfcs.com is good too

  • bdangubic 2 hours ago
    ask the vibe to explain in to you, unlike hunans it is very self-aware and patient teacher (albeit prone to say made up horseshit at times)
  • lerp-io 9 hours ago
    [dead]
  • blast 2 hours ago
    I feel like we might have more to learn from you than the other way round. Where by "we" I mean the traditional programmers who frequent this place.