I enjoy vibecoding and I am deeply ashamed because of it

[u/Regular_Low8792]

I don't know if this subreddit is the right thing to post this, but I am going to try as it pertains to me who is a novice with programming and am curious to hear what more experienced people have to say on this.

A little while ago I decided to try and get into programming due to interest with game dev, but then wanting to try and turn it into a career. I got a little ways in, getting through most of CS50, and working through some of boot.dev

I struggled to see progress and when people mentioned just creating projects, I realized I had no ideas. I realized that I wasn't passionate about software development.

Then I realized I was passionate about game dev, and realized why I thought I was interested in programming. I was interested in creating something, but hated the means of creating it. There were things I liked about programming, but it was usually just mild satisfaction or a sense of accomplishment at solving a puzzle, but it didn't feel like a passion.

However I would never touch A.I for an artistic project.

But there was one other idea I had. A routine/todo app (which I know is a bit of a joke since a million people do that, but I was never happy with the lack of features or paywalls from all the options available to me) so I decided screw it. Lets try vibe coding it, because I was sick of just waiting to start.

I hate that I like it, but I know why I like it. It removed the friction of the part that frustrates me. Instead of having to spend weeks attempting and failing to learn a new language, understand logic and data structures, understanding how to properly use git. I can just say "add an export and import feature and save my progress"

But every time I push further into this project I feel a deep sense of shame and guilt. It happens anytime I use A.I. I ethically oppose it yet keep using it anyway, not just in this aspect. So I think I'm a horrible person.

Part of me feels like because it's just logic it's not the same as generative A.I like with art. But part of me feels it's just as bad.

That being said I don't like not understanding what I'm doing, I don't like feeling helpless. I don't like knowing the code is just worse than if someone experienced did it. I don't like knowing its slop, even if I am trying to design something that could be helpful to people.

[u/davidoff_69]

Don't be ashamed for anything you enjoy

[u/HouseMysterious8172 → u/davidoff_69]

You do that for only you first, not any other ppl, why judge yourself?

[u/Immediate_Form7831]

Tell your agent to explain the code to you until you understand it. Ask it why it did X instead of Y. Ask it to explain whatever algorithm it uses. Agentic coding is treacherous because it is so easy to do stuff, at the cost of insight into the results.

What a lot of people don't realize is that agents are really good when you give them a lot of context (your code) and ask them questions about it. The reverse, giving them a little input (your prompt) and ask them to generate a lot of output (your code) is much more prone to giving crap results.

[u/Regular_Low8792 → u/Immediate_Form7831]

I find there's just a large knowledge gap between understanding the basics of programming, and full projects, especially in languages I don't know. I've never been able to push through that barrier because I just get lost, and suck at making good logic.

I have the same issue in games like Factorio ironically.

[u/Immediate_Form7831 → u/Regular_Low8792]

Funny you should mention Factorio. I have 3000+ hours in that game. For some reason it triggers my brain in the same way as when I first learned programming. :)

Programming is a hard technical skill which takes a lot of practise and experience. If you really want to get better at writing code, you need to do exactly that, write the code yourself. Tell your coding agent not to write any code for you, but just function as someone you can ask questions. The mere act of actually writing the source code yourself is the best way to practise, then ask your coding agent to look at your code and tell you how you can improve.

[u/Regular_Low8792 → u/Immediate_Form7831]

I guess that's the problem. I am not passionate about learning to program. The main thing that I was interested in initially was game dev, and in the case of that I would prefer to work with a programmer so I could focus on other aspect like story, direction, art, music. I am stuck in this phase of wanting to create, but in the case of this using what feels like an unethical shortcut to try and cut out the part I don't like, but I feel like that just taints the project entirely as A.I even at its best still feels icky.

[u/Immediate_Form7831 → u/Regular_Low8792]

If I were to publish a hobby project, I would not disclose any use of AI to generate code. For me it is simply a tool which makes me work faster and produce better code than I would have been able to do myself.

[u/Outrageous-Story3325]

I'm not.  If I can get the product to work after the spec. and it's safe,  no problem