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Vibe Coding Is the New Open Source—in the Worst Way Possible (www.wired.com)
submitted 10 months ago by BilSabab@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[-] pennomi@lemmy.world 83 points 10 months ago

Ehhh, I don’t think the comparison they’re making here is right. Leaning on open source software is not just for lazy developers - it’s often the best architectural choice.

I can’t think of a situation where vibe coding is the best choice except for when speed matters much more than quality, and even then only sometimes.

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

It's only the best option if you are a grifter or grifting the grifter. vibe coding is running roughshod the outsourcing industry. Lots of companies started using it to produce basic throwaway apps and slowly but surely degrades developer's talent pool. now we get lots of low-grade "developers" who can write prompts and want big bucks for it but can't pass a mid-level live coding session because their skills are not up the snuff.

[-] pennomi@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

Sure, but let’s also not discount the idea that a significant percentage of businesses need no more than a single static HTML page for their website. I don’t find it a problem for a person to vibe code that up instead of hiring a real web developer.

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

those businesses are not really the target audience for Ukrainian outsourcing companies though. they want the big bucks nice and easy and cut corners more than they should in many cases. On the other hand - there are many Ukrainian small businesses that benefitted greatly from no-code and vibe coding tools that handle their small scale needs - that kind of streamlining helped them focusing on what actually affects their business on the ground

[-] porcoesphino@mander.xyz 7 points 10 months ago

When did Ukrainian come into it? I went back to the article but half of it was behind a paywall

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

nowhere, I just relayed my personal observation regarding vibe coding in Ukraine as one of the examples

[-] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 3 points 10 months ago

Vibe coding works when you need to say connect to some API and can feed the model a bunch of docs.

It's great for very low skill, low maintenance, low risk code that I can easily and reliably regenerate.

Increasingly coding models are improving at architecture choices, Claude 4.5 vs 4 is way better here. But ultimately it's inferior to a ginger making those choices.

It's also a great debugger and reviewer.

I used it this weekend to connect to an API and to build a table of constants by just feeding it docs. That was a huge time saver.

I also used it to try and implement stuff and I gotta say once it hit tricky things it started trying to game it and just say it works.

[-] glowie@infosec.pub 4 points 10 months ago

GINGERS DO HAVE SOULS

[-] BeardedGingerWonder@feddit.uk 1 points 10 months ago

We don't

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 10 months ago

thats totally the type of code I have written. granted I really consider it more configuration even if it is code. This is always a thing with jobs. Yes I have written code but no im not really a coder by my definition (writes code over 50% of time at positions). No you don't really need a coder for this ops role but yeas its fine that it uses continous development and a bit of code needs to be changed and you call it all devops.

[-] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

I'm a dev and work with some devOPs, and you nailed my experience with them exactly! Here are some projects I've seen them build:

  • open web ui (self-hosted AI) with some custom logic to verify an API key; it's only available on the VPN/LAN, but IT has rules; basically ended up being a bit of lua in nginx
  • some JS and Python to add some widgets to the app (stuff like reporting issues)
  • random lambdas and other scripts to check server health

I remember doing all that stuff when I worked at a startup, and it's nice to just see things get automated.

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 2 points 10 months ago

Like half my last role was pretty much automation. Which is sorta good and I guess maybe why devops is a better way to look at it. Back when it was just ops it seemed like they would never give time to get things like automation done.

[-] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 68 points 10 months ago

Huh ?

Open source projects can be inherently insecure, outdated, or at risk of malicious takeover.

Because proprietary projects are immune to all that ? what is happening here ?

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 49 points 10 months ago

Wired pushing corporate agenda is happening.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 18 points 10 months ago

Wired can suck a dick for that shitty comparison

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

It has its moments, but you are absolutely right - 25 years ago Wired would've torn modern Wired a new one for their clickbait speculative thinkpieces.

[-] gian@lemmy.grys.it 15 points 10 months ago

More than Open Source, I would say that Vibe Coding is the new Visual Basic 3.0

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 5 points 10 months ago

very apt comparison

[-] phutatorius@lemmy.zip 6 points 10 months ago

It's the new open source in the same way that it's the new left-handed bowling.

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Wired clickbait, sigh

[-] HubertManne@piefed.social 6 points 10 months ago

since when is licensing code?

[-] goatinspace@feddit.org 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

yikes

[-] Melusine@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 2 points 10 months ago

I guess finding safe language is hard. Python, Java, C#, C(++) with clang or GCC, php, rust...

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

PASCAL!

[-] Melusine@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 3 points 10 months ago

Isn't Delphi open source? Imagine using nice language when you can use COBOL on IBM and pay a shit ton amount of money!

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

Its Freemium, at least it was like that. Using COBOL should be regulated by Geneva conventions at this point.

[-] Melusine@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 1 points 10 months ago

Trust me, I did a mainframe gig. It lasted a few months before I almost bored out XD

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

You sir are hardcore.

[-] Melusine@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 2 points 10 months ago

Madam please ^^

You should know that COBOL still evolve and the last version of it is 2018 I think (maybe one in the 2020s) and is object oriented since 2003. The problem is that ibm's COBOL is note like 62 (at least where I worked)

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

I see. Thanks for clarification. I never worked with COBOL myself but have couple of folks on the team who worked with COBOL in banking back during 2000s who still have full-on vietnam flashbacks over it. I guess the COBOL they worked with was an older iteration than you described.

[-] kalinux@programming.dev 1 points 10 months ago

“Vibe coding” is just cargo cult programming with prettier syntax highlighting.

I still think AI’s useful — when it’s treated like a tool, not a replacement. Been experimenting with that in a small side project: VSCoder Copilot

TL;DR: AI doesn’t make you a dev — it just makes a good dev faster.

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

my only experience with it was for code cleanup - since those tools save me from bitching and moaning from the team - let it rip

[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago

vibe coding

Dear wired: the word is Slopping. With slop.

[-] BilSabab@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

that word is so loaded for me - literally every time someone uses it regardless of context I remember The Godwinns theme and feel really old.

this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2025
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