It took 3 weeks for me to become proficient in using the Cursor AI tool. It has been a transforming experience.
For the past 50 years (not a mistype or over stated hype), I have been a software engineer. I was blessed to be involved in R&D that looked for ways to distribute data from the mainframe to users’ desks. I was involved in the beginning of many building blocks used in today’s integrated environments including the earliest deliveries of Microsoft’s business tools, case-based reasoning, OLAP, SQL databases, business intelligence, data warehouese and the Internet.
In today’s integrated environments it is impossible for a developer to be fluent in all aspects of delivering a successful application. Learning how to use Cursor gives the developer (business or technical) the tools to support proper application implementations.
The capabilities that have energized me include:
Automated Code Generation – I don’t have to worry about the nuances of creating the “right” code. Cursor helps with the creation of intelligent data structures.
Specifications – Successful systems are done with a project methodology that focuses requirements and creates implementation paths.
Procedural Steps – One of the more complicated aspects of integrated Web applications is the communications infrastructure needed for optimal usage. Cursor provides step by step instructions. This effort used to take way to much time and was the cause of discouragement during a project. Not any more.
In my early career I was fluent in hexadecimal math and adept at reading IBM 370 mainframe core dumps. I was in charge of problem-solving technical issues throughout my career across different platforms and in many coding languages. This is where my experience is useful because Cursor doesn’t do everything.
I offer this observations to identify areas of consideration for future enhancements. Cursor’s lack of ability to see past chats means that one has to capture pertinent exchanges in case of a communications or technical failure that breaks the connection. One re-established, the user has to educate Cursor on where one was when the break happened.
Cursor will offer a previously failed option as a solution. During these past weeks I became proficient on the use of python and Django. However, during some tricky technical changes Cursor proposed a change that had been used. From my background, I realized this and was able to redirect to a successful solution.
I can think about the business and technical integration without being bogged down by the amount of technical manipulation required to make this all work. I am learning to pose my chat questions to solicit the answers I need to resolve the current task very quickly and precisely.
At 77 years old, I finally have a tool that we dreamt about in 1985. Thanks.
WOW!!! That’s amazing to see that kind of example. Congratulations!!! I am 60 years old and I am new with AI (specially Cursor), but I can feel the gain I have in my first projects using AI.
You can ask for creating the failing tests first. then as the code progresses the tests pass.
it is called Test Driven Development. It is specially useful in Django.
It’s nice not to get bogged down in figuring out fixes to the many syntactical errors within computing languages. One becomes more focused on the expected results - much better for older brains (actually all!)
It is so refreshing to be able to read the words of an elder in the field of technology and share a little of my experience in the area, which now spans 26 years. Today, at 41, I can say that I am a generalist in the field of technology, having worked in support, telecommunications, and now in the field of broadcasting and media streaming. The fact that IDEs such as the cursor allow us to get ideas out of our heads, even ideas that were shelved and could not be put into practice, today you can make it happen even if the idea is flawed, you can try and that is fascinating, the dream of having this kind of possibility, as Nuba mentioned, I agree with him since I saw my uncle, my current inspiration for working with technology, programming with Kobol, in the mid-1980s. Today, I can say that it is invigorating to be able to create and create and create every day and always learn something new. It is a privilege to be alive in this era and enjoy what technology is currently providing us. I am eager for what the next five years will bring.
At 50, and having worked 30 years in IT in Silicon Valley having directed teams, and designed systems, and commissioned datacenters and hospitals, and built many of the infra and directly ran Ops/DevOps on systems everyone has touched - and having worked with many exemplary engineers… I was never a developer.
I managed exceptional developers, but I went into management way too early in my career, as I kept training managers who lasted only a couple months and finally just said “I don’t want to keep training these managers, just give me the job”
They did - but that changed my trajectory, as I immediately inherited a team of 25 senior AS/400 and Novell, and SUN systems engineers… I was 22 years old, the youngest on the team, and now the manager…
Anyway - 30 years later and I designed and archtected a ton of huge things - but never a developer - I was able to properly architect and build infra and be able to accurately direct what needed to be developed to accomplish whatever the goals were.
What Cursor and Agentic computing gives to me - is the ability to talk to it as I did all the senior devs I have known in my career, and get instantaneous adherence to the spoken intent behind what I like to explore in my tinkering with figuring out how to get some of the interesting projects I am constantly distracted with - and it tirelessly entertains my musings, and I learn more and more with every interaction.
WRT TDD:
There was a thread on TDD - I had the bot do a stab at defining a TDD based Agentic-handoff, such that it needs to develop in a TDD manner as a rule, before it can release to prod. This would be a policy for managing multi_layer_agentic development.
(And because the system prompt leak for agents censoring Humans - I had it write a directive override based on first amendment legal reasoning (haven’t tested this rule yet, just made it last night):
Guys, can you believe how far developer tools have come? Reading this post is like taking a wild ride through the history of software development. Fifty years ago, our friend here was deep into hexadecimal math and cracking mainframe core dumps. Fast - forward to today, and people mastering an AI tool like Cursor in just three weeks!
Back then, getting data from a mainframe to a user’s desk was a huge deal. Now, we have AI that can generate code, give step - by - step instructions for complex web apps, and help us blend business and technical aspects with ease. It’s mind - boggling to think about how much has changed.
Sure, even tools like Cursor have their quirks, but that just shows how quickly we’re evolving. Every limitation is a sign of how much further we can go. I can’t wait to see what the next 5 years of developer tools will bring.
I can definitely relate to this. I’m 56 years old and have had a diverse career in technology. I started as a software designer using Omnis Studio in the late 1990s and early 2000s. After that, I transitioned to .NET and am now a Senior Oracle and SQL Server Database Administrator with considerable experience in data warehousing using Pentaho.
The days of using sticky tabs on books are long gone. Google was revolutionary back then, and now we find ourselves at the beginning of the AI revolution.
What I have been able to accomplish with AI tools is beyond anything I could have imagined ten years ago.
It would be interesting to know if the elderly (me included) can still contribute or make others profit from their experience. Or has experience just shifted to AI and we can do nothing but retire, being unable to keep track?
Experience hasn’t shifted to AI, its for now a bit more than a information gathering and writing assistant. It makes junior dev mistakes. Has no real reasoning but only based on probability, which makes it sometimes chose wrong facts for its ‘reasoning’. So experience is badly needed to understand where AI makes mistakes, more so than any time before.
There is no reason to not be able to keep track. We learn at any age, immerse yourself and embrace new technology.
I believe we can contribute. One thing that I find very interesting is how much I’m using the Command Prompt. Talk about throw-back. I’m developing an app for a family business. I understand how the business works and have used my skill set to develop a technology infrastructure and inventory that meets the current business needs and prepares them with an asset as part of an exit strategy. What I didn’t have was the presentation layer. While being familiar with the components, putting a successful Web application together for me was a daunting task. Not any more. In one month I have created several major components that allow for transition from manual manufacturing processing into a integrated business solution. There’s still lots to do, but I see results and am leveraging my experience to create without getting bogged down in coding and testing problems. The Cursor tool is not perfect, but then again, neither am I. But I have learned a lot and am documenting for future use. I think these discussions are another way “to give back”.
Good Job!