AI coding demos almost always use well-understood applications with canonical architectures. What happens when you build a one-of-a-kind C++26 application instead of another TypeScript web app?
I’ll use detailed metrics to compare the same application built three ways:
- Manually with the latest C++26 features
- Vibe coding it with the latest AI
- In collaboration with AI
The code, the experience, and the outcomes differ in surprising ways, pointing to new best practices for AI-assisted C++ and beyond.