"If you've ever used a 3D printer, you may recall the wondrous feeling when you first printed something you could have never sculpted or built yourself. Download a model file, load some plastic filament, push a button, and almost like magic, a three-dimensional object appears. But the result isn't polished and ready for mass production, and creating a novel shape requires more skills than just pushing a button. Interestingly, today's AI coding agents feel much the same way."
"Since November, I have used Claude Code and Claude Opus 4.5 through a personal Claude Max account to extensively experiment with AI-assisted software development (I have also used OpenAI's Codex in a similar way, though not as frequently). Fifty projects later, I'll be frank: I have not had this much fun with a computer since I learned BASIC on my Apple II Plus when I was 9 years old."
"Throughout my life, I have dabbled in programming as a utilitarian coder, writing small tools or scripts when needed. In my web development career, I wrote some small tools from scratch, but I primarily modified other people's code for my needs. Since 1990, I've programmed in BASIC, C, Visual Basic, PHP, ASP, Perl, Python, Ruby, MUSHcode, and some others. I am not an expert in any of these languages-I learned just enough to get the job done."
AI coding agents produce striking prototypes and accelerate experimentation, but their outputs are often unpolished and require human skill to refine, integrate, and scale. Extensive hands-on testing with Claude Code, Claude Opus 4.5, and OpenAI's Codex across many projects revealed high enjoyment and creative potential paired with practical limits. Prior programming experience across languages and platforms aids in shaping usable architectures and adapting agent outputs. Paid premium plans were used for experimentation, and the experience emphasized that AI agents can create new kinds of work and coordination overhead even while speeding initial development.
Read at Ars Technica
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