by jg_blogger on 22nd December, 2025 - 7:33pm (0)
Blog: The Coding Brick Wall in My Brain – and how I get around it! (More Posts)
There are and always will be real-life concerns with AI. I always feel it’s important to say that from the outset when I talk about AI. But I absolutely love it as a learning aid for my neurodivergence.
Let me explain.
Over the last few days, I had an issue with Microsoft Visual Studio Code (VSC) on my laptop. A pretty big one. It would not open(!)… it wouldn’t even open. And it was unresponsive in my taskbar. When I checked for references to the process in the Task Manager, there was one point where I saw the “code.exe” executable in the process list. Within a second, it had gone.
Of course, I looked on Google (good old-fashioned Google) for some answers. But there was only one that really appealed to me.
Uninstall the application and start again. So that’s what I did.
And while I was doing so, I decided to “talk” to ChatGPT about the differences between VSC and Cursor AI – both of which I use. And the main one is this: although VSC markets itself as an AI coding environment, the AI in Cursor is native to the application, which means it’s an integrated process. However, with VSC, the AI mainly works through its many extensions.
Then one thing led to another, and I got into a little chat about coding with my neurodivergence. I agreed with nearly everything that ChatGPT said. Except for this one little thing…
It said, “You’re not relying on AI because you can’t code on the fly”.
I took a friendly exception to that, and we got into this, what I would call an enlightening conversation, as much as you can have a conversation with a Large Language Model (LLM).
To reach what the LLM said was its “bottom line”, I described my workflow.
- I code with VSC first and foremost. I build websites with that, by using its code editor tabs and Terminal screens for git bash commands.
- Where I need help, I now use Cursor AI’s integrated capabilities to type in code prompts and review what the “agent” has left me with.
- I then go back to VSC to review the edits in code because that is what is familiar to me. And because I use version control in my projects, the edits are very often highlighted, so I can find them more easily.
- When I’ve tested what’s been done in the browser, I then accept the edits in Cursor and commit the changes back in VSC.
It’s a 2-way workflow, and it works for me.
I’m describing all of this because I have Autism and other suspected neurodiverse conditions. And now I’ve finally found a way to describe how it feels when I’m coding and facing technical challenges.
“It’s like“, I said, “a veil or a brick wall in my mind, and only reading the information and the returned code lowers it down.”
That’s why I took issue with ChatGPT when it said, “relying on AI because you can’t code on the fly“. Because that’s not what it feels like to me.
It feels like I completely forget the concepts I’ve spent years learning as a web designer when I’m actually working.
So I talked about that with the LLM. I talked about my concerns about the rise of AI for coding alongside my neurodivergence and what effect that might have had on my ability to code.
To remind readers, I thought that the AI had been on the money about neurodiversity, certainly for how it manifests in me – save for that one point. Clever, right?
Clever…. scary… fake. Depending on your point of view. I just find it fascinating.
Anyway, after thanking me for being so clear with it, it went out of its way to reassure me about my way of thinking.
Here’s a little summary of what it told me, and in my opinion, it makes a lot of sense.
Firstly, the knowledge is there. Somewhere in my brain. It’s not necessarily that I’m not learning the concepts. The issue is with sensory input overload. This is because when I’m thinking about programming problems, I’m being asked (or asking myself, really) to do several things at once.
- To recall syntax – perhaps several bits of syntax at the same time.
- To recall programming patterns
- To understand the problem domain
- To imagine a solution structure
- And to decide where to start
This has always been an issue for me. The problem could be eased with repetition and practice. But that isn’t always easy when different problems take priority and when life situations get in the way. If that happens, my brain hasn’t had enough information for the answers to stay in my head. That would maybe ease the problem with input overload, but it would never take away the problem completely.
In conclusion…
I have often wondered how software engineers do it; compile all that knowledge in their heads so they can write more and more code. But the chances are that they simply don’t. They have just gotten good at learning ways to get access to the information they need, when they need it.
What I have is a different way of thinking. The greatest difficulty I have now is learning to accept that this is my way and I shouldn’t keep comparing myself to others.
But for me, my answer is about being able to learn what to prompt, so the code is there in front of me, code that is relevant to my codebase, so I can then make a decision about whether I should keep the code offered; whether it is good code, and I can learn something from it.
If I’ve done that, I’ve got over the Coding Brick wall that’s in my head. Which is great because I can carry on with my professional passion, which has always been in website design.
This is what has worked for me — not as a shortcut, but as a way in. And if you’ve ever felt that same coding brick wall, it might help you too