A Guide to the Basics of Programming (Including Using AI)

This is a guide programming for people who know already how to code. It explains the craft, including new parts related to AI. It is not a guide to ‘vibe’ coding, which is when someone who doesn’t know how to code at all uses an AI coder, or ‘agentic’ coding, which is when the machine does much longer self-directed runs. This only explains the basics of using AI as a coding assistant, so you’ll be limited to a mere 10x improvement in your productivity. Agentic coding can, under some circumstances, produce much greater gains, but it more often results in people having reams of worthless code and a mindset somewhere between delusion and psychosis.Practices from before AI: Test Driven DevelopmentCode must first and foremost be high quality. In some ways this is more art than science, but many specific things can be done, including:Code should be well organized.It should not have repetitive sections which can be consolidated into a single thing.It should be organized into coherent…