Re: Automatic Programming

2026-02-22

I have been having a streak of writing this week.

Lately, I have been relating to the sentiment of this post by antirez a lot. I think people are skeptic of vibe coding more than it is necessary. Although, in the post, he argues that there is a clear difference in vibe coding and automatic programming. The difference lies in the understanding of the prompter. A person who knows how to think algorithmically, will be able to produce a good output regardless of whether it is done manually or by prompting.

The rise of automatic programming allows people to own personal apps. I forgot where I first saw the term, but it is very fitting. Most of the time, for most of the applications, we tend to use only a small set of available features. And for some, we might even require some unorthodox features, because needs vary from person to person, not everyone's workflow is the same. Having access to the means of building an application with a natural language interface eliminates the barrier for a large portion of people in the world.

Here are some applications I prompted into existence over the past year. They will be irrelevant to the majority of the people in the world, maybe even all except me. However, each of them serve a purpose to me, on which I depend very frequently.

1. Codeforces ELO Trainer

I have always been very vocal about my indifference to the sport of competitive programming. I acknowledge the fact that it helps a lot of people to improve their skills, but it is clearly not for me. However, abstract problem solving still remains one of the best approaches to build up optimal programming patterns and good practices.

So, I built this.

It can take in your codeforces username, and then keep suggesting you problems based on your past attempted problems and your ELO. It also has the full history of your past submissions right in the same page so you can reflect on what type of problems you have spent the most on and where else you can put your efforts into. It follows the standard chess ELO system. So depending on if you could solve a problem or not, how difficult it was, and what your current ELO is, it gives you positive or negative ELO. So, I can still have that assessment of my skill level without being too much involved in the competitive nature of it.

2. JatiyaTyper

The most common method of writing Bengali is to use some software that allows phonetic transliteration. However, the government ministries and organizations in Bangladesh have adopted the "Bijoy" layout. It builds on top of the standard QWERTY layout.

Personally, I hate it. But my friend had to prepare for a typing test for one of the government exams, and we could not find anything that resembled something like Keybr, that allowed progressive learning. With the help of Gemini and coming up a way myself with organizing which letters should be learned first, I cooked this up in an hour or so.

It gets used rarely now, but I have played with it for some days, and the improvement in my Bijoy typing was significant. It definitely has merits.

3. Ledgerbook

I manage my budget and finances on a spreadsheet. It works for me. But it does not work for my partner. She has a very weird way of managing her budget, and I'm glad that that works for her. She was having trouble with tracking everything on the Notes app in her phone. So I had her detail out everything she wanted from a finance app that she would use. Then we reiterated on it multiple times until we got it just the way she wants. We also added cloud syncing with Google drive and interactive charts to visualize where her spending was going to.

4. Boycott Awareness

This might offend some people. I am against the ongoing Israeli propaganda and genocide on the people of Gaza in Palestine, which should not be even argued. However, I am not strong on the belief that boycott works. But I also believe that everyone should at least have the option to do so. And for that, I need to be aware of who or what I am supporting. I would not want to actively support a product or a person that have taken a side on the other side of that line.

I took fact-checked lists of companies and celebrities that have spoken/showed support against or in favor of the genocide. It resides as a flashing badge in my extensions bar whenever it catches a mention of anything from that list in the page I am currently on. It helps me make informed decision when I am going to buy something, or when I am engaging in the content of a certain individual.

I think everyone should try out at least once if this works for them, regardless of their programming experience or background. I was not there when everyone had a personal website on the internet, but I think I will be there when everyone on the internet is comfortable enough to write personal applications for themselves.