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About the Book
It's a new era of software development. Agentic editing has fundamentally changed the craft. New AI-powered programming tools are launched weekly. But there are core, fundamental principles to effectively and safely harness these tools to reach levels of productivity that haven't previously been possible.
AI agents can generate hundreds of lines of code in seconds, build features that would have taken days in mere hours, and tackle tasks across any platform—desktop, mobile, web, or CLI. This unprecedented power comes with unprecedented risk. Agents can introduce subtle bugs, leak sensitive credentials, create unmaintainable code, and generate implementations that look correct but fail in production. The difference between productivity and disaster lies in how you work with these tools.
Written by a developer with 20 years of experience who initially resisted AI but now embraces it, this book distills hard-won lessons into practical, actionable principles. You'll learn how to take responsibility for AI-generated code, verify outputs effectively, structure codebases that agents can work with successfully, and build self-correcting systems that catch problems early. These aren't tips and tricks for a specific tool—they're fundamental principles for the age of agentic editing that will remain relevant regardless of which AI coding assistant dominates tomorrow.
Effective Coding with AI is written in an approachable and digestible format. Each chapter is a standalone principle you can apply immediately, covering everything from testing strategies and feature flags to avoiding merge conflicts and preventing secret leaks. Whether you're skeptical of AI coding tools or already using them daily, these principles will help you harness their power safely and effectively.
Early Access: Effective Coding with AI is an active work in progress. You're buying a work in progress book that will be updated regularly until completed.
AI Usage Disclosure: Generative AI was not used to write any part of this book. AI tooling was used to catch typos and provide feedback on grammar.
About the Author
Brett has been writing software for over twenty years. What started as a teenage hobby blossomed into a career. He's led engineering teams for over a decade and maintains a variety of open source projects. He has written three other books on programming. When he's not coding, he's making pizza for his family and trying to finish War and Peace.