Why you should still build every project by hand

Daily Python ProjectsNov 1, 2026

Why you should still build every project by hand

Nov 1

Hi,

A question I get a lot these days: does it still make sense to learn Python by hand when an AI can write the code for you?

My answer is yes, and I want to explain the reason, because it is the reason the Daily Python Projects newsletter exists.

Here is (honestly) how most people build software with AI today: They describe the app, the AI writes it, the AI writes and runs the tests, and then they look at the finished product. Some will tell AI what tech stack to use and other desired specifications. Others will just say the app they need and ask later the tech stack it used which is the database, the framework, where the data goes, etc. In either case, app builders now work at the high level, and they read very little of the code itself. Of course there are exceptions in critical industries such as flying and banking where stakes are very high and manual coding is still used in these, but 95% of programmers are using AI today.

And that is way of working is here to stay. However, coding with AI only works for a person who already understands what an app is made of. To judge whether the architecture makes sense, you have to know what a function, a loop, a file and a database table do when they meet each other. To ask the AI a good question about the database, you have to have stored and read data yourself at least once. You cannot understand the high level of an app if you have never built the low level with your own hands.

That is where small projects come in. When you type a 60-line program yourself, run it, break it and fix it, you learn what each piece does and why it is there. After a few dozen of those, you can look at an app the AI built for you and understand it, question it and direct it. A person who skipped that stage can only accept what the AI gives them.

So build the weekly projects by hand, even though an AI could write them faster. Use the AI to explain a line you do not understand, or to find the bug in your version. The typing is where the understanding comes from.

I wrote a longer piece about how I would learn Python today if I were starting now, with AI sitting right there: How I would learn Python today, with AI sitting right there

A question for you: do you use an AI tool when you write code, and which one? Reply and tell me. I am curious how people here work.

Ardit