From Coder to Architect

Description

Comprehensive Crash Course Title: Cursor Crash Course & AI Coding For Beginners: Mastering Workflows, Context, and Rules Hook/Summary: Welcome to the definitive Cursor Crash Course! Cursor is a supercharged version of VS Code with AI built directly into the core editor. In this video, we go beyond basic chat demos to explore professional AI coding workflows, context management, rules, agents, and models—principles that apply whether you’re using Cursor, Claude, Code Llama, or others. We demonstrate three distinct levels of AI assistance, from gradual integration to building complex full-stack projects. What You Will Learn & See: • Beginner Workflow (Gradual Integration): Learn the suggested method for beginners: opening an existing project (a shopping cart UI) and using AI gradually. Master tab completion that follows you across multiple files and use inline editing (Quick Edit) to handle styling and add accessibility attributes (like aria labels). • Vibe Coding (High-Level Generation): Watch the generation of a clean SAS landing page featuring a hero section, testimonials, and an interactive pricing calculator that updates costs based on user inputs. We refine the prompt to add a toggle switch for monthly versus yearly pricing, including a 20% discount for annual payments. • Advanced Next.js Project: Build a Markdown Resume Editor with a split-view form and live preview functionality using Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind. We demonstrate how to set up sophisticated workflows by defining a dedicated Project Context file and creating specific Project Rules (like enforcing Tailwind 4 syntax or TypeScript best practices). We also implement PDF export functionality. Key Concepts Covered: • Interface and Features: Navigating the familiar VS Code interface and utilizing the powerful AI chat interface. • Context Management: Understanding how the AI views your entire project and how to specify context (files, documentation, folders) for focused assistance. • Rules & Memory: Setting up global User Rules and technology-specific Project Rules to ensure clean, maintainable, and efficient code generation (e.g., using TypeScript over JavaScript, applying DRY/KISS principles). • Modes: Differentiating between Agent Mode (which performs actions like creating files, editing code, and running tests) and Ask Mode (which functions as a standard chatbot). • Pricing: A detailed breakdown of the changing individual plans (Free, Hobby, Pro, Max Context) and the caveats regarding premium model usage (GPT, Claude, Gemini). Sponsor: Thank you to today’s sponsor, Sabella! Sabella is an all-in-one solution for hosting your apps, APIs, and static sites, supporting nearly every popular language and framework. They offer a simple UI to deploy applications and spin up databases like Postgres in just a couple of clicks. Check out the link below for free static site hosting and app/database hosting starting from $5 per month.