Why Vibe Coding is Making You Worse
AI Can Write Code… But It Can’t Think Like You Recently at my work, I was coding a GUI in C#. And I thought this was a good time to start using ChatGPT to help me write my code because it got me about 70% of the way there. But what I noticed was it…
Why You’re Stuck in Coding Tutorials (and how to get unstuck)
I recently got an email from a subscriber who just graduated with an engineering degree. He can code in MATLAB, Python, and R, and he can ace any coding class. But he shared something interesting that I hear from developers every day. He said that every time he starts a new software project, he feels…
What 13 Years of Engineering Taught Me (That My Degree Didn’t)
When I first started writing software, I thought the goal was just to get the code to work. If it compiled and if it passed all my tests, then I was done. But as I got more experienced in the professional world and as I started working with different code bases, I started to realize…
Beginner Coding Tools: How to Start Using Git, Terminal & IDEs Without Overwhelm
Beginner coding tools can feel overwhelming when you’re just starting out. IDEs, the terminal, and Git can seem confusing, but with the right approach, you can start using these tools effectively. In this guide, I’ll show you how I got started with coding tools as a beginner and how you can build confidence while learning.…
Working Directory vs Source File Directory Explained
If you’ve ever tried to read a file in your C program and got the dreaded “file not found” error, you’re not alone. The root cause for most beginners is misunderstanding the working directory vs source file directory. Knowing the difference between the two will save you hours of frustration. This confusion usually comes down…
The Lazy Way to Debug (That Actually Works)
Stop Debugging with Hope: How to Debug Code Like a Pro When I was first starting to learn how to code, and even into my early days of my software career, I had a very inefficient way of debugging my code. Whenever I saw a crash or some behavior that I wasn’t expecting (basically, a…
How Teams Use Git Branches to Build Features
If you’re using Git to do your software development and you’re using your main or master branch and doing all your development there, you’re doing it wrong. Real teams make branches and do all their features or bug fixes in branches. Then, after everything works, they merge those branches into the main branch. It might…
What I Wish I Knew About Dev Tools When I Started Coding
Choosing the Right Dev Tools Without Wasting Time As you learn how to code, you will eventually run into a wide variety of development tools. Pretty soon, you start asking yourself questions like: Which dev tools should I use? Which ones actually matter? Which ones will make me better or faster? When I say “dev…
Learn Variables the CORRECT Way With This Better Analogy
Variables are the bread and butter of software development. Yet, a fundamental misunderstanding of what they actually are is the reason so many beginners get stuck. I recently came across a post on the r/learnprogramming subreddit that really resonated with me. A student confessed that they had been learning to program for over six months…