{"id":458,"date":"2026-04-30T21:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T21:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/codingismycraft.blog\/?p=458"},"modified":"2026-05-01T03:09:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T03:09:47","slug":"spent-3-days-doing-what-ai-could-do-in-a-single-prompt-is-it-worth-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/codingismycraft.blog\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/spent-3-days-doing-what-ai-could-do-in-a-single-prompt-is-it-worth-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Spent 3 Days Doing What AI Could Do in a Single Prompt: Is it worth it?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"testing-coverage\"
testing coverage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
Total Lines in the Project<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Anyone following the evolution of AI today is bombarded with news about how
\ngreat vibe coding is, how it can speed up development, and how it can be used
\nto create amazing things, and how Agentic AI is the future of software
\ndevelopment.<\/p>\n

I have no doubt that AI is indeed very useful for the programmer, but I also
\nhave no doubt that there is a place for “Design First” architecture in the
\nworld of software development.<\/p>\n

My definition of Design First is the following:<\/h3>\n

\n Design First is a software development philosophy where architecture, technical
\n contracts, and interface specifications are rigorously defined before any code
\n is written. While the design can evolve during implementation, the goal is to
\n fully understand the problem and the solution before starting.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While “vibe coding” optimizes for development velocity , Design First optimizes
\nfor stability, maintainability, and long term success of the project. It
\nemphasizes careful planning, thoughtful design, and a deep understanding of the
\nproblem domain before writing code.<\/p>\n

Personally, although I am a heavy user of AI in my programming tasks, I never
\nallow it to interact directly with my codebase, and I never copy paste AI
\ngenerated code into my codebase without first reviewing it and making sure it
\nworks, rewriting it to fit my codebase and style, and making sure it is
\nmaintainable and clean.<\/p>\n

The “experiment”<\/h3>\n

Recently, I wrote a small web server to be used by thousands of users on
\nAmazon’s MTurk to collect game theory related data.<\/p>\n

In game theory research, code isn’t just about functionality; it\u2019s about data
\nintegrity and reproducibility. A ‘vibe’ is not an acceptable basis for a
\nscientific dataset.<\/p>\n

I took a Design First approach, writing a very clean and maintainable solution.
\nThe code took me 3 days to write with full testing coverage and very good
\ndocumentation and a very extendable architecture.<\/p>\n

As a small double check though, I decided to ask Gemini and Claude Sonnet, if
\nit is worth the effort of spending around 3 days writing the code, instead of
\njust asking them to write it for me.<\/p>\n

The Question<\/h3>\n

\n The code tested in the above screenshot here took me 3 days. I took no shortcuts applying a Design First approach writing a very clean and maintainable solution. The code will be used from thousands of users on Amazon’s MTurk to collect game theory related data. Is the quality of it justifying not using vibe coding and relying on AI for it?”\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The following is a screen shot from Gemini’s response:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While the following is a screen shot from github copilot’s response:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone following the evolution of AI today is bombarded with news about how great vibe coding is, how it can speed up development, and how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":354,"url":"https:\/\/codingismycraft.blog\/index.php\/2025\/04\/03\/ai-an-essential-tool-for-software-development-not-a-replacement\/","url_meta":{"origin":458,"position":0},"title":"AI: An Essential Tool for Software Development, Not a Replacement","author":"john","date":"April 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many software developers have seen how AI can generate code, create documentation, and run tests automatically allowing us to build simple interfaces, write SQL queries, and develop basic algorithms faster. 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The need for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AI"","block_context":{"text":"AI","link":"https:\/\/codingismycraft.blog\/index.php\/category\/ai\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":365,"url":"https:\/\/codingismycraft.blog\/index.php\/2025\/05\/20\/resisting-the-rush-why-careful-planning-beats-quick-coding-in-software-design\/","url_meta":{"origin":458,"position":3},"title":"Resisting the Rush: Why Careful Planning Beats Quick Coding","author":"john","date":"May 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Quality Software is not developed in a rush In the fast-paced world of tech startups and software companies, there\u2019s a persistent pressure to deliver products rapidly. Teams are often celebrated for shipping features quickly, and managers may reward short time-to-market above all else. This culture, focused on \u201cmoving fast and\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52,"url":"https:\/\/codingismycraft.blog\/index.php\/2014\/05\/28\/a-wrong-metaphor-about-software-development\/","url_meta":{"origin":458,"position":4},"title":"A wrong metaphor about software development","author":"john","date":"May 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A very common metaphor used when we talk about software development is to compare it with home building. Although there are some commonalities, software development differs from home building to the extend of considering the metaphor to be completely wrong! 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