AI Assisted Coding: Pachinko Coding—What They Don't Tell You About Building Apps with Large Language Models, With Alan Cyment

In this BONUS episode, we dive deep into the real-world experience of coding with AI. Our guest, Alan Cyment, brings honest perspectives from the trenches—sharing both the frustrations and breakthroughs of using AI tools for software development. From "Pachinko coding" addiction loops to "Mecha coding" breakthroughs, Alan explores what actually works when building software with large language models.

From Thermomix Dreams to Pachinko Reality

"I bought into the Thermomix coding promise—describe the whole website and it would spit out the finished product. It was a complete disaster."

Alan started his AI coding journey with high expectations, believing he could simply describe a complete application and receive production-ready code. The reality was far different. What he discovered instead was an addictive cycle he calls "Pachinko coding" (Pachinko, aka Slot Machines in Japan)—repeatedly feeding error messages back to the AI, hoping each iteration would finally work, while burning through tokens and time. The AI's constant reassurances that "this time I fixed it" created a gambling-like feedback loop that left him frustrated and out of pocket, sometimes spending over $20 in API credits in a single day.

The Drunken PhD with Amnesia

"It felt like working with a drunken PhD with amnesia—so wise and so stupid at the same time."

Alan describes the maddening experience of anthropomorphizing AI tools that seem brilliant one moment and completely lost the next. The key breakthrough came when he stopped treating the AI as a person and started seeing it as a function that performs extrapolations—sometimes accurate, sometimes wildly wrong. This mental shift helped him manage expectations and avoid the "rage coding" that came from believing the AI should understand context and maintain consistency like a human collaborator.

Making AI Coding Actually Work

"I learned to ask for options explicitly before any coding happens. Give me at least three options and tell me the pros and cons."

Through trial and error, Alan developed practical strategies that transformed AI from a frustrating Pachinko machine into a useful tool:

• Ask for options first: Always request multiple approaches with pros and cons before any code is generated

• Use clover emoji convention: Implement a consistent marker at the start of all AI responses to track context

• Small steps and YAGNI <span style="font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration