Column: Programmer Craft in the AI Era

12 posts

Published posts

AI Can Write Code, But You Still Need to Know What a Program Is
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AI Can Write Code, But You Still Need to Know What a Program Is

The first article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era revisits program = algorithms + data structures, and explains why requirements must first become state, rules, complexity, and acceptance examples before a developer can know what to ask AI to build.

Do Not Let AI Guess Your Execution Model
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Do Not Let AI Guess Your Execution Model

The third article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era covers processes, threads, coroutines, event loops, and blocking calls, and explains why concurrency is not just wrapping code in async or adding more workers.

How Modules Talk to Each Other
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How Modules Talk to Each Other

The fourth article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era discusses function calls, HTTP/RPC, message queues, event streams, and shared databases. The point is not choosing a fashionable technology, but clarifying coupling, transactions, failure, and observability boundaries.

An API Is Not a URL; It Is a System Contract
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An API Is Not a URL; It Is a System Contract

The fifth article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era covers request and response schemas, error codes, idempotency, pagination, permissions, version compatibility, and contract tests. Before asking AI to write an API, write down the promise first.

A Database Is Not a Place to Dump JSON
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A Database Is Not a Place to Dump JSON

The sixth article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era covers table design, indexes, transaction boundaries, locks, slow queries, and migrations. A database is not a universal JSON box; it is the hardest business-constraint layer in a system.

Do Not Put Slow Work Inside the Request
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Do Not Put Slow Work Inside the Request

The seventh article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era covers caches, queues, and asynchronous jobs. A cache is not a magic accelerator, a queue is not a trash bin, and async jobs still need idempotency, retries, dead letters, batching, and backpressure.

High Concurrency Is Not Just Adding More Machines
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High Concurrency Is Not Just Adding More Machines

The eighth article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era covers connection pools, batching, rate limiting, degradation, hot spots, cascading failures, and capacity estimation. Concurrency is not a single coding trick; it is pressure design across the whole call chain.

Tests Are the Seatbelt for AI Coding
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Tests Are the Seatbelt for AI Coding

The ninth article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era explains how unit tests, integration tests, fixtures, contract tests, regression tests, and failure cases can constrain AI-generated code so the result is reproducible, reviewable, and maintainable.

When Systems Fail, You Need to See What Happened
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When Systems Fail, You Need to See What Happened

The tenth article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era explains how logs, metrics, traces, audit records, and product events form an observability boundary, so AI-generated services do not become black boxes.

Before Blaming AI-Written Code, Stabilize It
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Before Blaming AI-Written Code, Stabilize It

The eleventh article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era explains how to review, isolate, test, draw boundaries, delete code, and refactor in small steps so an AI prototype can become maintainable software.

What Should Programmers Still Practice in the AI Era?
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What Should Programmers Still Practice in the AI Era?

The twelfth and closing article in Programmer Craft in the AI Era returns to computer fundamentals, systems thinking, product judgment, communication, and collaboration, and discusses which abilities AI will amplify.

12 published posts are not listed in the outline.