Vibe Coding

Andrej Karpathy coined this term "Vibe Coding" back in February 2025. It's basically where you tell an AI what you want, and it generates the code for you. No need to understand what's happening under the hood. Just vibes.

With vibe coding, you're essentially saying:

"Hey AI, make me a signup form with name, email, and password fields. Make it pretty."

And boom, you've got a complete form with validation, styling, and everything. You didn't write a line of code. You didn't even think about how it works. It just does.

Let me be clear: I think vibe coding is garbage. It represents a total apathy toward accomplishing anything meaningful and a complete lack of interest in one's goals. It's the programming equivalent of fast food – quick, convenient, but ultimately harmful.

This approach produces developers (if we can even call them that) who have zero understanding of what they're building. When things break—and they always break—these "vibe coders" are completely lost. They have no idea what's happening under the hood. It's like driving a car without knowing how an engine works, except worse, because they're building things other people depend on.

Bionic Coding

Bionic coding takes a different approach. It still uses AI and LLMs, but with more intention and understanding.

With bionic coding, you're directing the AI more precisely:

"Generate an Elixir LiveView form component with these specific fields, using our design system components, and ensure it handles these validation cases properly."

Then you take that generated code, you understand it, you refine it, and you integrate it with your core business logic that YOU wrote and tested thoroughly.

The key difference is that with bionic coding:

  • You know which parts of your application need human attention (for example: security-sensitive areas)
  • You leverage AI for the repetitive stuff (boilerplate, standard CRUD operations, UI elements)
  • Test coverage is strong where it matters most.
  • The resultant code is maintainable.

The Bionic Alternative

The future isn't about finding some mythical "balance" between competence and laziness. It's about using AI tools responsibly while maintaining ownership and understanding of what you're building.

I start with the end in mind. What am I building? How important is it? How long does it need to last? Then I determine how to apply coding principles throughout.