Wow is Claude Code a beast.

In my original Code with AI the Hard Way, I wrote:

My credentials earned in Command & Conquer / Age of Empires / Warcraft / Starcraft have prepared me for this world of orchestrating the machines when it arrives on my doorstep. I will thoroughly enjoy it.

…and things sure are moving fast in the past [checks calendar, looks at thinning hair in mirror] SIX MONTHS. The best evidentiary artifact of today’s moment in coding history might be Steve Yegge’s unhinged brilliance in Gas Town.

To keep myself honest: no, I absolutely am not only coding with AI the Hard Way. I just launched Elbo Books, and much of it was built by Claude Code while I tightly reviewed what was produced but did not retype most of it.

However, I did (and do still) shift into “Hard Way mode” for critical pieces or complex code when I don’t want to cede full lack of understanding to the machine. Or if I just yearn for the sweet press of mechanical keys.

I’d say ~30% of the code for Generating Custom Mazes with AI was written the Hard Way, and the rest in “Claude Code takes the wheel, I tightly review” mode.

So: I’ve shifted from “Hard Way most of the time” to “Hard Way for critical moments.” I find this toggling back and forth nicely balances speed with maintaining context.

It is so fun to build again.