This month we have been dedicating our article series a Illustrate the difference between vibe coding and AI-assisted programmingIn this post you are reading, we will continue talking about tools with Artificial Intelligence technologies for programming in Linux.
Before we begin, I want to reiterate the dangers of vibe coding. The idea of being able to create the app you've always dreamed of without bothering to study boring lessons on how to print "Hello World" on the screen is tempting. ButI can make you like the character in The Sorcerer's Apprentice and unleash forces you didn't know existed. In the absence of specific instructions, Artificial Intelligence seeks the most common solution. This most common solution is often the one that expert programmers discuss in forums and frequently requires intermediate to advanced security configuration knowledge.
Since I started publishing this series of articles, at least two libraries used in software projects have been reported to be infected with malware. If you're a programmer who knows their job, you know if they're included in your project and how to update and replace them. If you're a vibe coder, you probably don't even know how that program you're so proud of actually works.
It's not about giving up on having the app you've always dreamed of or forcing yourself to save for years to pay a programmer. You are in the world of Linux and open source and you have the knowledge and tools you need at your fingertips. Artificial intelligence will help you by explaining anything you don't understand in the documentation, suggesting resources, or finding errors in the code. What you need to understand is that while it's unbeatable as a co-pilot, it's unreliable at the controls.
Let me tell you why I insist so much on this and I promise to delve into the subject.
When I started building websites, I read about an open-source content management system called Joomla. Joomla was a fork of another content management system called Magento and seemed ideal for creating the family business website. I read the requirements, signed up for the cheapest hosting that met them, and set up the site. That first version of Joomla had a security flaw, and my hosting was used to steal customer data from Bank of America.
To make a long story short, the cybersecurity department of the Buenos Aires City Government got involved, and I had to take down the domain because Bank of America's IT staff were consuming my bandwidth by monitoring my site every 30 seconds. From that day on, I learned everything I could about web design and basic cybersecurity.
Tools with Artificial Intelligence technologies for programming in Linux
In the previous article, we started by talking about Visual Studio Code and its AI assistant, GitHub Copilot, but we didn't explain how to install it. We happened to stumble across an example that illustrates why you should be wary of AI suggestions. I thought to ask ChatGPT how to install it, and this is what it told me.
This is ChatGPT's response when I asked them how to install GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code.When I follow ChatGPT's advice, this is what appears:
Screenshot of the VS Code Marketplace showing that the extension recommended by ChatGPT is discontinuedThe steps to use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code are as follows:
- Open a GitHub Copilot account. You can do that. from here.
- Click on the first icon on the right of the bottom bar.
- Press on Use Artificial Intelligence features.
You can find complete documentation on how to use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code. here
Cursor
Visual Studio Code was Microsoft's first program with a Linux version and one of the first under an open-source license. Its success was so great that over time other integrated development environments (IDEs) were based on it. One of these was Cursor.
Unlike Visual Studio Code, which treats the use of Artificial Intelligence tools as optional, Cursor integrates them from the start.Some of the characteristics of this Integrated development environments are:
- You can read multiple project files simultaneously.
- Understanding the relationships between different parts of the project.
- Make coordinated changes to different parts of the code.
- Integrated chat to answer questions about the code, ask for clarification on how a certain function works, or request changes to the code in natural language.
- Automatic conversion of code to other programming languages.
- Support for plugins.
- Integration with advanced Artificial Intelligence models.
- Version with graphical interface and command line.
- Use of agents and skills integration
Cursor can be installed on Linux in DEB (Debian, Ubuntu and derivatives), RPM (Fedora, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, OpenSUSE and derivatives) and Appimage (Platform independent) versions. It should be noted that although, like Visual Studio Code, it has a free plan for using Artificial Intelligence solutions, that plan is very limited.
On Ubuntu it is installed with
cd Descargas
sudo dpkg -i cursor_X.XX.X_aquitectura.deb
Note that in the command you must replace X and architecture with the data from the package you downloaded. The installer will ask if you want to install the repository so that the application updates automatically.
Which plan should I choose?
If you're just starting out in AI-assisted programming, the good news is that you don't need to start paying for a subscription. With the free version of GitHub Copilot or Cursor you can do simple projects like
- <l
- List of tasks classified into categories or priorities.
- Simple games like Rock, paper, scissors or Tic-tac-toe.
- Calculator.
- Recipe manager.
- One-page website with a form.
The great thing about these projects is that there are many tutorials on how to do them, and you can compare your code with the one suggested by the Artificial Intelligence model to see if it's hallucinating.
In the next article we will continue talking about more tools based on Artificial Intelligence.
