"The use of AI in coding has exploded in the past few years. What was an amazing curiosity in April 2023 is now impacting every programmer on the planet. As the IEEE (a professional organization for engineers) reports, headcount for young, early-career programmers has plummeted over the past two years. But more senior developers are utilizing AI to make themselves more productive."
"As the IEEE (a professional organization for engineers) reports, headcount for young, early-career programmers has plummeted over the past two years. But more senior developers are utilizing AI to make themselves more productive. Then there are the AI tools themselves. They range from free AI tools that cost nothing, all the way up to nearly $1,000 per month for a range of professional AI tools. These tools use a considerable amount of computing resources, and their vendors charge accordingly."
AI use in software development has grown rapidly, transforming programmer workflows and decreasing early-career headcount while increasing productivity for experienced developers. AI coding tools span free chatbots, integrated IDE assistants, and autonomous coding agents. Pricing ranges from free to nearly $1,000 per month, reflecting high compute costs. Free chatbots can handle small projects well, while professional coding agents deliver substantial productivity gains for experienced coders. Tool choice should match project complexity and user skill. A concise glossary of tool categories clarifies specialized versus general-purpose options for solving specific development tasks.
Read at ZDNET
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]