Beth's voyage from AI novice to app builder has stretched the capabilities of these tools in all sorts of ways, and revealed some truths about how software programming works. Watch her discuss the process of creating a garden planning app from scratch with Loveable, Firebase Studio, Gemini, Cursor, and Windsurf (yes, all of them 😯).

Top tips:

• Keep the initial spec simple
• AI lies! Always verify it did what it said
• Don't be afraid to try running things yourself from the command line

ICYMI

Alice wrote a guide to getting started with Copilot for programmers who are trying to figure out how it can fit into their workflow. She includes specific tips for getting it to play nice with vi keybindings and how to add a rules file with your coding requirements.

Have you been building something lately, AI or otherwise? We'd love to hear about it.

Cheers!