Dinostroids, my first vibe-coded software program challenge, is reside.
The final time I wrote any significant quantity of manufacturing software program was in 1990. On the time, I used to be operating a software program consulting firm with my associate, Dave Jilk. We’d reached the purpose the place, as we grew, he grew to become answerable for all of the software program, and I dealt with all of the community integration stuff we needed to do for our shoppers. From time to time, I’d must do upkeep on one thing I had written up to now, but it surely was fairly minimal.
After we bought Feld Applied sciences in 1993, my job shortly modified, and inside a yr, I used to be deep in a bunch of M&A stuff and making angel investments with my very own cash. Because the business Web started, I’d fantasize about writing software program, however I had no time to do something aside from mess around with Perl, after which PHP, after which Ruby on Rails, and … properly, you get the thought. I knew sufficient HTML and CSS to poke round, however I wasn’t doing something that was wherever close to manufacturing.
Because the final 30 years have handed, I’ve realized a couple of new programming languages, together with Python (I’m moderately proficient) and Clojure. However I by no means realized JavaScript, and all the pieces I did was child steps past “Hi there World.” So, my skilled coding days ended with Fundamental+Btrieve, DataFlex, and Pascal.
Over the 2024 vacation break, I began taking part in round with Cursor after a number of individuals, together with Quinn McIntyre (my associate Ryan’s wonderful child), instructed me about it. I used to be snug sufficient with VS Code, so I simply dove in. I began engaged on a Private Well being Supervisor challenge (PHM) utilizing Python, Django, Render, and Claude 3.5. I made some progress, however the holidays ended, and I obtained busy once more.
A couple of month in the past, I began engaged on Dinostroids. Swiftly, everybody was speaking about this new vibe coding factor, and whereas I deliberate to do extra on PHM, I assumed it will be enjoyable to dive into one thing fully completely different. I spent a weekend ranging from scratch with Cursor, JavaScript, Vercel, and Claude 3.7 Sonnet. By the tip of the weekend, I had a functioning Dinostroids recreation working.
I’ve at all times realized by doing. After I was in my teenagers and 20s, I liked writing software program. Over the previous twenty years, running a blog and subsequently writing books (Give First: The Energy of Mentorship is my ninth guide) have stuffed this gap for me. However I missed coding so much.
In the event you take a look at my Goodreads web page, you’ll discover that my studying tempo has slowed considerably within the final 45 days. As an alternative of studying within the evenings, I’m vibe coding.
It blows my thoughts that I can create a practical recreation like Dinostroids with out writing a single line of JS. Positive – it’s a fairly easy recreation. Nonetheless, so much is occurring, and dealing on it utilizing the agent in Cursor, studying tips on how to immediate it successfully, studying numerous the code (I’ve “studying proficiency with JS now), getting a cellular browser working with out producing absurd code bloat, and determining an efficient workflow with Cursor, Github, and Vercel has been a ton of enjoyable.
Within the online game of software program growth, I really feel like I’m at Stage 4 now of an infinite degree recreation after being caught at Stage 2 for 30 years.
Go play Dinostroids and see if you will get on the leaderboard. I count on GEG can be motivated to get going once more after dropping his fifth-place spot.
Massive due to the McIntyres (Quinn and Ryan), my brother Daniel, Sam Ritchie, and a bunch of individuals from my school society (ADP) for being testers and providing characteristic options to be applied.
