Learning to code with AI
I haven't written much about tech lately, but when something comes along that profoundly changes how I build / do things, I feel compelled to comment.
If you're keeping up with things, I'm sure you've seen chatter about Anthropic Artifacts—code snippets that can built / create functional apps.
I've seen the buzz on X / LinkedIn and I was skeptical. "Sure, those look like neat little demos, but it's not writing real code" (whatever "real code" means).
Until I sat down and tried it.
If models like this continue to get better, I think we'll need to rethink some things. In the last few weeks, Sonnet has been a force multiplier for what I've been able to create.
Here are a few React apps I built in my spare time:
and one Python app:
Now, these didn't take me from zero to code, I can write Python, but what they did do was enable me to build and ship React apps without knowing any proper JavaScript and learn the basic concepts fast.
They've cut the time to iterate and learn. Most answers are a prompt away instead of several searches. More than that, LLMs help with the concepts, too.
I think at a minimum learning will be revolutionized with these tools, but I also don't see a reason development can't be, too.
If you haven't sat down to learn how to interact with LLMs or use them in your work, I'd highly recommend you start.