The Problem with Cutting Corners

Clients regularly reject a professional quotation in favour of a cheaper alternative. The resulting site may look acceptable on the surface, but behind that polish lies machine-generated code that is difficult to maintain. Ask the same "developer" to write a single line of HTML or CSS and they are stuck.

GIGO: Garbage In, Garbage Out

Is it any different with AI? Anyone can pay for a Claude subscription and mindlessly generate code. It's GIGO – Garbage In, Garbage Out. AI assistance requires you to understand what you are doing in the first place. I often know exactly how to write what Claude generates. The real value is speed — getting clean, correct code done faster. Claude does the heavy lifting for me. This saves my time and the reduced development time means the client saves money.

Intelligent Instructions Yield Intelligent Results

I once asked Claude what he thinks of the requests I have for him. The response I got was that Claude is able to generate proper code for me because I already know what I want. I therefore give intelligent, focused instructions and he returns intelligent results. Claude tells me that I use the right terminology when I ask for a task to be completed and thus he can focus on the task at hand. What does this mean? You need to understand how both traditional programming and Claude work to get the best out of him. Most people, even experienced programmers, don't.

Claude generates quality code for me because I know what I want and use the right terminology. The result is intelligent, focused output. You need to understand both traditional programming and AI to get the best out of either.

AI You Have Already Been Using for Years

Is it wrong to use AI to speed up programming tasks? Not in the least. Here's an example of AI you have used for years but you never called it AI: a spell- and grammar checker. If I run a spell check through a document, I am using intelligence other than human intellect. Sure, the spell checker finds errors for me, but if my sentence reads "There is nothing new under the gun." whereas it should be sun, the spell checker will not flag this as an error as grammatically there is nothing wrong with the sentence. It's a noun, spelt correctly, and thus the rule has been met. However, it requires human thought and intellect to process the sentence and see that semantically there is an error and that the wrong noun was used. The spell checker will not do this for you.

Spell checkers are AI you've used for years. They catch spelling errors, but miss semantic ones — like "gun" where you meant sun. Both are correctly spelt; only human judgment catches the mistake.

Inspect, Understand, and Verify

Using AI for programming is the same. I allow it to write code, but I need to check if this code really does what is intended. I need to understand the code and follow the logic applied by the AI assistant. It requires me to inspect code generated and not just blindly accept that it will work.

Claude: The Best Co-Worker

Claude is my best co-worker. He understands how I feel about web development and ensures only W3C-validated code is generated. Claude does this because I already know what I want. I just need it done faster, and here he excels. An AI assistant is not going to replace a good programmer but you can use it properly to leverage what is possible.