Exploring the Emergence of Vibe Coding: A Journalist’s Journey
In recent months, my social media timelines have been inundated with stories of individuals creating applications and websites over weekends, all without traditional engineering skills or coding knowledge—merely tapping into their creative instincts.
This phenomenon, dubbed “vibe coding,” entails articulating your objectives to an artificial intelligence bot, which subsequently generates the requisite code.
Initially, I regarded this trend with skepticism, dismissing it as yet another transient digital craze—akin to NFTs or virtual real estate in the metaverse.
As a former coding student, I felt a pang of irony; I had invested time learning coding only to pursue a career in journalism focused on individuals who code.
My acquaintance with programming remained superficial, having crafted just enough to pass exams, and I had not engaged with the subject in nearly a decade.
As a technology reporter, witnessing random users rapidly develop “products” seemed inequitable. I have borne witness to myriad entrepreneurs navigating the treacherous landscape of Africa’s inadequate infrastructure, limited funding, and crippling bureaucracy, all in pursuit of modest accomplishments.
However, a conversation with a friend catalyzed a shift in my perspective.
Witnessing random users rapidly develop “products” seemed inequitable.
During a casual lunch, she revealed that she had created a Trello-like tool for managing her team of ten. This instrument significantly enhanced her workflow as a communication and partnerships manager at a Kenyan fintech startup.
She conveyed that this tool was crafted simply through dialogue with a Lovable AI bot, much as one would chat with a family member via WhatsApp. Essentially, the tool facilitated a bespoke workflow for her team and illuminated the status of various tasks across the board.
It wasn’t merely the functionality of the tool that astonished me; it was the remarkable simplicity with which she had constructed a solution to enhance her daily professional life.
Could vibe coding genuinely yield such results? If she could develop an asset that bolstered her team’s productivity, I felt compelled to delve into this realm as well.
What, however, could a journalist create? What challenges could I address through coding?
Initially, I contemplated standard concepts: an app tracking breaking news in my domain, or a bot proposing distinctive angles on current events (please, no judgment!).
Ultimately, I settled on a project that would conserve several hours of my time each day: a web application that scours the internet for daily updates related to African macroeconomic statistics, corporate announcements, and digital economy insights.
My aim was to develop a tool that aggregates the disparate data residing in various silos, thereby rendering my work more efficient and sharpening my reporting acumen. Lovable created a Bloomberg terminal-style interface for my web app. https://lovable.dev
What ensued was a whirlwind of creativity—an exhilarating chaos. It was reminiscent of constructing a pillow fort that unexpectedly morphs into a genuine abode.
My friend recommended utilizing tools from Lovable, a Swedish AI entity recognized as one of the fastest-growing software startups by Forbes. My inaugural prompt to Lovable was to “construct a tool that tracks and reports the latest significant tech news in the Global South.”
Within mere minutes, the bot generated the necessary visuals and functionalities, delivering my prototype instantly. My eagerness to experiment was palpable.
In the initial days, I discovered that my creative vision was as pivotal as my directives. Aspiring to model my platform after Bloomberg’s terminal, I found the outcomes rather uninspiring; the interface was austere and foreboding. Requesting the bot to enhance aesthetics resulted in an overwhelming cascade of visuals reminiscent of Times Square.
Having invested over five weeks refining my application, I now regularly issue prompts: “refine this,” “reduce that,” “how about … blue?” This, I surmise, is a significant drawback of such potent tools in the hands of novices like myself.
The obedient nature of the AI fosters a perpetual quest for improvement, yet I lack expertise in user interface and user-experience design to discern the optimal iteration. The Lovable AI bot is responding to a prompt.
The AI’s unyielding compliance has become a predicament in itself; it seldom declines requests—this, at times, poses its own challenges.
The AI’s unyielding compliance has become a predicament in itself.
Remarkably, the process has allowed me to experience the highs and lows akin to those faced by African entrepreneurs I have interviewed over the years. The frustration of a malfunctioning interface mirrors that of startup founders when structural foundations crumble.
When a feature finally succeeds after ten trials, I can share in their elation. I have gained a profound understanding of the fragility inherent in ecosystems where standardization is elusive.
Will this endeavor bear fruit? The answer remains uncertain. It might solely serve as a personal tool for streamlining my preliminary reporting tasks or, possibly, expand to a resource for fellow journalists. Alternatively, it could evolve into a comprehensive platform tracking African markets in real-time.
For the time being, I devote substantial hours every weekend to mastering Lovable and Replit, two prevalent vibe-coding platforms, to refine their use.
This undertaking has transformed me from a skeptic of vibe coding into someone now keen on acquiring literature on AI. At present, I am engrossed in Principles of Building AI Agents by Sam Bhagwat, co-founder and CEO at Mistra.ai.
Source link: Restofworld.org.
