Academic and Emerging Technology

Vibe Coding - Thinking Like a Software Developer

AI-assisted coding tools are changing who can build software and how quickly an idea can become something useful. “Vibe coding” describes an emerging approach in which you explain what you want to build and work iteratively with AI to generate, test, troubleshoot, and improve the application.

In this session, Michael Dickerson will use Spider Seats, a custom vibe-coded application now included in the University of Richmond Law School service catalog, as a real-world example of that process. He’ll walk through how an idea became a working application and what he learned along the way.

The session will focus less on learning to code and more on learning to think like a software developer: breaking a problem into manageable pieces, communicating requirements clearly, testing whether something works, troubleshooting when it doesn’t, and knowing when an AI-generated solution needs another look.

No programming experience is required. The goal is to show what is now possible and provide a practical framework for turning your own ideas and problems into things you can build and test with AI.