My wife and I took to watching older Star Trek shows, like Deep Space Nine, just before ChatGPT became a thing. When we started, I still thought that a computer that can quickly provide a coherent response to any request I make using natural language was an invention I probably would not live to see.
Today, anyone with a smartphone can download an app and have that experience. For free.
That’s a radical turn of events. And one way this has impacted me, personally, is that it opened up the door to something I had long tinkered with but never really managed to much success: programming.
I’ve dabbled and programming for as long as I’ve had access to a computer (so, about 1996), but only managed to put together a few basic websites. While I love tinkering with tech, I always found programming tedious, so my various efforts to learn Python or HTML/CSS beyond never went anywhere. But I’ve always remained interested in making my own websites, apps, and games, so when it became clear AI could help I leapt at the chance.
Not all the projects I put together were useful, but some definitely were. And in retrospect I’ve realized that they provide an overview of the rapid progress LLMs have made in programming. So, consider like a vibe coding museum.
