Creative Programming

Most AI chat apps of frontier model producers still evolve around simple chats with weak organizational features. I know a lot of development is happening, but Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT mostly stick to the–now already relatively old–“chat” concept of AI agents. This is a pity though, since this way they prove to be model developers instead of application developers. Here’s my chat app improvement wishlist.

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Last weekend I gave a presentation on Creative Vibe Coding for the Vibe Coding Lab at NP3 MOBi in Groningen. I contacted my long-term friends at NP3 with the suggestion to organize an event on June 21st, 2025, on the use of AI coding agents for creative people. We had a joyful night of vibe coding with a great audience: they discussed, created, and listened very well.

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I recently discovered a neat feature in Anthropic’s Claude Code that I had to share: custom slash commands. I wanted a way to easily tag repository states, and specifically in small projects that do not rely on package.json or similar, by relying on a VERSION file. I decided to dive deep into custom slash commands and create my own semantic versioning command. What I found was a flexible system that has lightened up how I handle routine development tasks.

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I have been using Claude Code for a few weeks now and I’m totally hooked! I foresee a bright future for AI code companions in general and for the role of developers in particular.

I’ve spent quite some money on private projects but I want to keep my costs under control. I think I found a good workflow that balances between having the benefit of Claude Code while also managing expenses.

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Vibe coding… essentially a buzzword, but to be honest, I’ve been doing it since 2003. I thrive on prototyping, quickly translating ideas into visual end results with code. Like painters who paint en plein air: fast brushstrokes, working through mistakes (happy little accidents) - I’ve always felt like a digital impressionist.

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As a web developer with years of experience in JavaScript, I decided in 2021 to expand my skillset by learning Rust. While I was excited about Rust’s performance and safety guarantees, the learning curve was steeper than I anticipated. That’s when I decided to experiment with AI assistance through Claude Code to help me develop a practical project while learning the language.

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For fast prototyping I create tiny projects consiting of some HTML files with JavaScript and CSS assets. Instead of opening them with the file protocol in the browser, I like them served over HTTP. I used to use php -S for this, but I do not want PHP on my machine, so I had to find an alternative. I wrote the alternative in Rust.

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During programming I still need to look up a lot of implementation details of features I am using; it appears that I do not know many things by heart, obviously – unfortunately. How to settle a discussion about HTTP response codes when it comes to 422 versus 400, 401 or 403? I need to look that up… I am an avid user of the MutationObserver and the IntersectionObserver, but I find it hard to remember all methods and options. I need to look that up too!

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