[Ads-l] Word: vibecoding, vibe coding

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

In early February top AI researcher Andrej Karpathy wrote about using
English language instructions to create software modules. He called
the process "vibe coding".

Handle: Andrej Karpathy @karpathy
Timestamp: 6:17 PM, Feb 2, 2025
https://x.com/karpathy/status/1886192184808149383

[Begin excerpt]
There's a new kind of coding I call "vibe coding", where you fully
give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code
even exists. It's possible because the LLMs (e.g. Cursor Composer w
Sonnet) are getting too good. Also I just talk to Composer with
SuperWhisper so I barely even touch the keyboard. I ask for the
dumbest things like "decrease the padding on the sidebar by half"
because I'm too lazy to find it. I "Accept All" always, I don't read
the diffs anymore. When I get error messages I just copy paste them in
with no comment, usually that fixes it. The code grows beyond my usual
comprehension, I'd have to really read through it for a while.
Sometimes the LLMs can't fix a bug so I just work around it or ask for
random changes until it goes away. It's not too bad for throwaway
weekend projects, but still quite amusing. I'm building a project or
webapp, but it's not really coding - I just see stuff, say stuff, run
stuff, and copy paste stuff, and it mostly works.
[End excerpt]

New York Times reporter Kevin Roose used the term "vibecoding" when he
wrote about his experiences as a non-coder creating software modules.

Website: The New York Times
Date: Feb. 27, 2025
Article: Think A.I. Is Overrated? Try Vibecoding.
Author: Kevin Roose
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/technology/personaltech/vibecoding-ai-software-programming.html

[Begin excerpt]
I am not a coder. I can’t write a single line of Python, JavaScript or
C++. Except for a brief period in my teenage years when I built
websites and tinkered with Flash animations, I’ve never been a
software engineer, nor do I harbor ambitions of giving up journalism
for a career in the tech industry.

And yet, for the past several months, I’ve been coding up a storm.

Among my creations: a tool that transcribes and summarizes long
podcasts, a tool to organize my social media bookmarks into a
searchable database, a website that tells me whether a piece of
furniture will fit in my car’s trunk and an app called LunchBox Buddy,
which analyzes the contents of my fridge and helps me decide what to
pack for my son’s school lunch.

These creations are all possible thanks to artificial intelligence,
and a new A.I. trend known as “vibecoding.”

Vibecoding, a term that was popularized by the A.I. researcher Andrej
Karpathy, is useful shorthand for the way that today’s A.I. tools
allow even nontechnical hobbyists to build fully functioning apps and
websites, just by typing prompts into a text box. You don’t have to
know how to code to vibecode — just having an idea, and a little
patience, is usually enough.
[End excerpt]

In 2023 Karpathy sent out the following thematically related tweet:

Handle: Andrej Karpathy @karpathy
Timestamp: 3:14 PM, Jan 24, 2023
https://x.com/karpathy/status/1617979122625712128

[Begin excerpt]
The hottest new programming language is English
[End excerpt]

In 2009 "Vibe Coding" was already in use with a different meaning.

Handle: Vibe Coding @VibeCoding
Timestamp: 7:47 PM, Jun 13, 2009
https://x.com/VibeCoding/status/2159247549

[Begin excerpt]
- Stay tuned! VibeCoding have some awesome projects in the works.
Coming soon to an Internet near you!
[End excerpt]

There are other early examples of "vibe coding" in the X/twitter
database with different/unclear meanings.

Garson

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org