The honest answer: coding is not about memorising syntax. It's about learning to think precisely, break problems into steps, and understand how systems work.
“AI can write code. It cannot yet decide what to build, catch its own mistakes, or know when the output is wrong.”
Students who understand what's happening underneath AI get dramatically better results from it. They write better prompts because they understand what they're asking for. They spot errors because they can read the output. They build things that actually work because they understand the structure.
We don't teach children math so they can compete with calculators. We teach it because the thinking it builds makes them more capable in every area of life. We recommend learning the coding fundamentals first, before Coding with AI for the same reason.
Coding with AI goes by different names: AI-first software development, AI-assisted coding, and others. The terminology is still settling because the field itself is moving fast. The tools students use in these classes evolve as the tools professionals use evolve: when a better AI coding assistant becomes available, we adopt it. What we teach isn't how to use one specific tool. It's how to evaluate, direct, and build on what AI produces, which transfers as the landscape changes.