Of late, I have been experimenting a lot with AI tools. These experiments cement my views on the benefits of using these development assistants to enhance productivity.
Full transparency: I was an average developer at best. I was a late entrant into computers. The first couple of years of my career were spent working for the government in far-flung posts, locations that lacked regular electricity or running water. A return to ‘civilian life’ turned me towards computers, which have been a part of my life for the last three decades. Now, to the main point.
A couple of weeks back, I created three game apps using AI tools and posted them on my website. To explain further, I have not written a line of code in these apps. That might explain their success, but that’s another story.
Let me clarify that I can understand code and, to some extent, what is written in error logs and can also test apps.
Let me now explain how ‘I’ built those apps. I started by defining what I wanted in a few sentences. Next, I copied and pasted this draft into Grok and asked it to write a professional requirements document. I handed this document to Figma Make.
Within seconds, Figma made a prototype with CSS, TSX, and TS files. The end result was a working sample app I could test immediately. I gave a few more instructions and minor tweaks, which it followed like an intelligent developer, and my basic app was ready.
By the way, Figma does all this for free. Once I was satisfied with the end result, I downloaded the files and put them in a folder on my laptop. I opened this folder in Cursor AI and asked it to transform it into a WordPress plugin zip. The plugins are now installed and running on my blog.
My point is this: if a man in his late fifties with a basic understanding of code can do this, imagine what smart, energetic, and intelligent YOU can do.
If you have ideas or see an opportunity to turn your imagination into workable software, now is the time. No need to spend years learning and memorizing all the nuances of a programming language. With basics, you can achieve a lot. Think of yourself as a business person who hires a smart developer to write some code.
The catch is, These apps are not exactly ‘no code’ or even ‘low code’. It is a bit more than low code and involves a lot of manual testing on your part. Also, do not trust the AI tool blindly, as these systems are still in their infancy and learning to walk. You have to hold its hand and gently guide it. Remember the movie Superman when the toddler crash-lands at Kent’s farm. It could lift a car with its hands, but it was still a baby. That is AI for you as of today.
A day may come when it won’t fully obey your commands and tells you to do your coding yourself, but till that day comes, enjoy the show. Have some fun building the app of your dreams and get it done fast.