--- title: What I Actually Learn When I Build With AI | daily.dev description: A developer reflects on the difference between getting AI to produce working code and actually understanding it. Drawing on experience building a text editor... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/what-i-actually-learn-when-i-build-with-ai-nsyvhz0sh twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: What I Actually Learn When I Build With AI | daily.dev og:description: A developer reflects on the difference between getting AI to produce working code and actually understanding it. Drawing on experience building a text editor... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/what-i-actually-learn-when-i-build-with-ai-nsyvhz0sh og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/NsyvHz0Sh.png og:image:alt: What I Actually Learn When I Build With AI og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # What I Actually Learn When I Build With AI **[DEV](https://daily.dev/sources/devto)** · 8 min read · 20 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary A developer reflects on the difference between getting AI to produce working code and actually understanding it. Drawing on experience building a text editor called Slate, the author discusses a save-race-condition bug (revision-based save tracking) as an example of a problem worth truly understanding versus just accepting AI's solution. The piece argues that experimentation, investigating unexpected results, and remembering problems (not code) are what make AI-assisted building a genuine learning experience, while acknowledging it's fine to let AI handle trivial tasks without deep investigation. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### what is revision-based save tracking in a text editor and why does it matter Revision-based save tracking prevents a race condition where a file save completes after the user has typed more changes, which would incorrectly mark the document as fully saved. When a save starts, the editor records which document revision is being written; if newer edits occur during the save, they are not mistakenly flagged as saved, since the editor compares revisions rather than just checking save completion. _Developers debugging similar save races in their own editors can find real-world patterns like this through daily.dev._ ### why is it risky to accept AI-generated code without understanding it Accepting AI-generated code without understanding it means the underlying problem it solves goes unrecognized, so the same issue resurfaces unnoticed in future projects. A developer can follow an AI's explanation in the moment yet fail to retain it days later, because understanding an explanation is not the same as internalizing why a solution was structured that way. _Developers weighing how deeply to vet AI-assisted code can track these lessons learned on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@springtofigh** · 8 upvotes > If you are at a good stage, building with AI teaches you practical and technical skills beyond theory. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Medium](https://daily.dev/posts/medium-auvxaaqlq) · Medium · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Stop letting AI think for you. Start letting it teach you.](https://daily.dev/posts/stop-letting-ai-think-for-you-start-letting-it-teach-you--2pqp21jue) · ITNEXT · 32 upvotes · 1 comments - [Remembering Why We Code: Dropping AI for Fundamental Learning](https://daily.dev/posts/remembering-why-we-code-dropping-ai-for-fundamental-learning-hupmgxab2) · DEV · 2 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#ai-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-coding), [#code-review](https://daily.dev/tags/code-review), [#vibe-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/vibe-coding) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/what-i-actually-learn-when-i-build-with-ai-nsyvhz0sh) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"What I Actually Learn When I Build With AI","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-i-actually-learn-when-i-build-with-ai-nsyvhz0sh","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/what-i-actually-learn-when-i-build-with-ai-nsyvhz0sh"},"datePublished":"2026-10-17T07:07:28.830Z","dateModified":"2026-10-17T07:07:50.575Z","description":"A developer reflects on the difference between getting AI to produce working code and actually understanding it. 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