Vibe Coding is the new RAD

3 months ago

Software engineers should view Vibe Coding with AI as the latest iteration of Rapid Application Development (RAD).
RAD, popular in the 1990s, emphasized rapid prototyping, user feedback, iterative design, and speed over perfection.
RAD relied on visual programming tools like Visual Basic and Delphi, allowing drag-and-drop interface building.
Agile methodologies, introduced in 2001, took the best parts of RAD and improved upon them, making RAD seem outdated.
Vibe Coding represents the next evolution, moving from low-code (RAD) to no-code/natural-language-code, where developers describe the 'vibe' of the app.
Both RAD and Vibe Coding share anti-Waterfall principles, focus on prototyping, and aim to abstract away boring coding details.
Vibe Coding abstracts architecture entirely, with AI handling API calls, CSS layouts, and state management, whereas RAD required deeper architectural understanding.
Both approaches face the 'Spaghetti code' problem, where generated code can become messy and hard to maintain.
Vibe Coding still requires human oversight and should be seen as an opportunity to speed up development, not a threat to jobs.
The transition from RAD to Vibe Coding reflects better tools and evolving trends in software development.

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