# What is an AI Coding Assistant?

> If the coding assistant can't run ITERATIVE CRUD on ALL of your code, it's not a True AI Coding Assistant _(TACA)_

## Standards for TRUE AI Coding Assistants

1. `Must work on existing codebases`
2. `Must have a file context mechanism`
3. `Must be iteratively controllable`


## Examples

- CrewAI (agentic building block - not TACA)
- Autogen (agentic building block - not TACA)
- GPT Engineer (rapid prototyping - not TACA)
- ChatDEV (rapid prototyping - not TACA)
- **Cursor (Legitimate TACA)**
- **AIDER (Legitimate TACA)**

## Best two AI Coding Assistants as of 2024 January

- Aider
- Cursor

## 5 BIG problems with AI Coding Assistants

1. File Management
2. Accuracy
3. Speed
4. Security
5. Skill Atrophy 💰💰💰💰💰

## Potential Solutions to the 5 BIG problems
- File Management
  - Explicit manual add/remove file context
  - Wait for tools to improve
  - Look for niche solutions that include open file context
- Accuracy
  - PRACTICE
  - The prompt is the new fundamental unit of programming
  - Wait for tools to improve
- Speed
  - Experiment and see if you REALLY need gpt-4-turbo or if gpt-3 is enough
  - Wait for tools to improve
- Security
  - Bite the bullet and use a cloud solution
  - Use a local-only solution (in the future)
    - Waiting for great local LLMs to catch up
- Skill Atrophy
  - Great technology always destroys skill, jobs, and entire industries 
  - Pay close attention to the results of your prompts to slow skill decay
  - Don't focus on this too much, focus on the bigger picture: **The Prompt**
  - Flow with the AI, don't fight it

## Why care about AI Coding Assistants?

- Whoever cracks this puzzle first is going to catapult into the future of engineering.
- The world is built on code, and whoever can build the best code the fastest will win in the long run.
- If you're faster, you can build more, once you finish your work you can work more or relax more.
- There is a massive first movers advantage in the software industry. Learning and mastering AI Coding Assistants ASAP gives you a monumental edge.