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🛠️ Vibe Coding, DevToys, and OpenTTD—Your Dev Toolbox Just Got Bigger

🛠️ Vibe Coding, DevToys, and OpenTTD—Your Dev Toolbox Just Got Bigger

From coding with plain English to building transport empires, here’s your weekly upgrade.

David Thurman
May 15, 2025

Morning folks! This is Beyond Code - the newsletter designed to help developers build their careers, one Thursday at a time.

Note: This newsletter is not sponsored. Any websites/tools/apps we recommend are purely because we enjoy them personally

Did You Know…

Microsoft Excel Once Had Flight Simulator Easter Eggs

Early versions of Excel (like Excel 97) contained full-blown Easter eggs, including hidden games like a flight simulator.

Forget SUM functions, let’s try some barrel rolls.

Handy Coding Tool

The Swiss Army Knife for Devs – DevToys

DevToys

DevToys is a toolbox app for Windows with utilities like JSON formatting, text diff, hash generation, regex testing, and more—all offline and in one place. Think of it as the ultimate helper for everyday coding tasks.

Key Features:

Offline, all-in-one utility app
Format JSON, CSV, HTML, and more
Text diff and hash generators
Regex testing and string manipulation

Website: https://devtoys.app/

Tech Highlights

Vibe Coding: Hero or Hype?

Vibe coding—popularized by Andrej Karpathy earlier this year—is changing how software gets made. Instead of typing code line-by-line, developers now describe what they want in plain English (or by voice), and AI takes it from there.

AI-First Editors Take the Wheel: Tools like Cursor and Copilot Workspace turn natural language into functional code, auto-generate pull requests, and even summarize commits. They’re not just assistants—they’re your new co-pilots. (Cursor, Nucamp)
Apps Built in Hours, Not Weeks: Companies report up to 10x faster delivery with vibe coding tools. Even non-coders are launching MVPs, reshaping what it means to be a “developer.” (Apidog)
But Mind the Tradeoffs: While vibe coding boosts speed and accessibility, it can also introduce bugs and black-box logic. Human oversight is still key. (Simon Willison)

The best part? The only programming language you need to learn is English.
(Unless you want to understand the bugs you just accidentally created)

Programming Tip

Keep Your Codebase Consistent

Consistency > perfection. Whether it’s naming conventions, indentation, or folder structure—stick to a consistent pattern across your project.

Why It Helps:

Easier onboarding for teammates.
Less cognitive load when switching files.
Makes linters and formatters love you.

Ask the Experts

“What are some of the most common mistakes that candidates make during the interview process?”

I’ve seen a lot of candidates fail interviews because they weren’t getting specific enough with their answers. The interviewer wants to see that you know the details of what you worked on in the past. Don’t be afraid to dive into the weeds when you are talking about past projects.

Aubrey Rhodes, Chief Technology Officer @ Workful

Open Source Highlight

Build a Transport Empire – OpenTTD

OpenTTD

OpenTTD is a simulation game where you grow a transport network using trains, trucks, ships, and planes. It’s great for learning how complex systems interact and for contributing to a long-running, community-loved project.

Why It’s Awesome:

Explore simulation and large-scale system design.
Rich in opportunities to work on UI, AI, or balance.
Actively developed with decades of community input.

Website: https://www.openttd.org/
GitHub: https://github.com/OpenTTD/OpenTTD

What’s Open Source?
“Open sourced projects” refer to projects that have their code open to the public. They allow anyone to contribute to the project and help maintain it. Not only are they a great way to get hands on experience early on in your career, they also provide you a way to add bigger projects to your resume!

Shameless Plug

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Pop Quiz

What’s the Result of This Condition?

If A = true, B = false, and C = true

What does (A && B || C) evaluate to?

A) true
B) false
C) Error
D) undefined

Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter!

Rate this weeks newsletter:

⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Pop Quiz Answer: A) true
Because && has higher precedence than ||, it evaluates (A && B) → false, then false || C → true.