Developer argues AI coding tools should follow, not replace, mastering the basics

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A developer and author argues that the rise of AI coding assistants like Copilot, Claude, and Cursor has created a widening gap between generating code and truly understanding it. He warns that AI-produced code can appear functional while hiding subtle flaws — such as missing database indexes or faulty authorization logic — that only developers with solid fundamentals will catch. In response, he wrote a two-part book series covering frontend and backend development, deliberately withholding AI tools until readers have hand-built and debugged projects themselves. The capstone project involves building the same Recipe Box app three times — in vanilla HTML/CSS/JS, React, and Next.js — to make the differences between approaches concrete. His core argument is that developers should use AI to accelerate their work, not to outsource their judgment.

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