What software fundamentals still buy you when the agent writes the code
Source
Andrew Ng
Author
Andrew Ng
Date
Terms in this piece · Glossary
AI agent — An AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.
vibe coding — Building software by describing what you want to an AI in plain language and steering the result, instead of writing every line yourself.
context window — The maximum amount of text a model can consider at once — its working memory for the current conversation or task.
Why it matters
vibe codingBuilding software by describing what you want to an AI in plain language and steering the result, instead of writing every line yourself.Full definition → without fundamentals means the AI agentAn AI system that doesn't just answer once but works toward a goal in a loop — taking actions, reading the results, and deciding what to do next.Full definition → silently picks your latency, consistency and cost tradeoffs. This names where human context windowThe maximum amount of text a model can consider at once — its working memory for the current conversation or task.Full definition → still has to steer the decision.
