Use AI coding tools without skipping the learning.
A free, open-source project for junior developers. Practical habits, backed by research, in your inbox.
The problem
Debugging by pasting errors back
In an Anthropic study of developers learning a new library, people who looped errors back to the AI without forming a hypothesis scored lowest on the later quiz.
RCT, post hoc. The patterns weren't randomized and the groups were small (n = 4), so this is an association.
Assisted gains, unaided losses
In a math study with high-school students, unrestricted AI help raised practice scores, but the same students did worse on a closed-book exam later that session. A tutor with safeguards mostly avoided the drop.
RCT, math, not coding. Applying it to coding is our extrapolation.
A self-check
Could you explain the last diff you approved?
A question for you, not a statistic.
Three ways to use AI
- Learning
- You do the thinking; the AI questions, hints and checks.
- Onboarding
- Using AI to find your way around a codebase that's new to you.
- Delivery
- Shipping work with AI while still understanding what changed and why.
What you get
- One practice to try
- One tool or mode tip
- One "stuck of the week" theme
- What changed in the project
Built in the open
MIT-licensed, with the research and plans on GitHub. When we say a toolenforces something, we mean a specific, tested block. Everything else is labelled as advice.
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