{"id":1014,"date":"2025-08-05T15:48:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T19:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/?p=1014"},"modified":"2025-08-06T23:43:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T03:43:50","slug":"from-zero-to-crossword-generator-with-windsurf-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/05\/from-zero-to-crossword-generator-with-windsurf-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"From Zero to Crossword Generator with Windsurf AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I recently took on a new project: building a crossword generator. Instead of starting from scratch, I decided to test out Windsurf AI in VS Code. It was an interesting five-hour sprint that gave me some working code and a few key takeaways about AI-assisted development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My biggest lesson was that you have to break down the problem. Giving the AI a single prompt to “build a crossword generator” was overwhelming and unproductive. The successful approach was to tackle smaller, more specific tasks, like generating the grid or placing a word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The code it produced was functional<\/strong>, but it wasn’t perfect. I quickly learned that the AI is a great starting point, but it doesn’t always produce performant or elegant code. A developer’s critical eye is still essential. I spent a good amount of time reviewing and refactoring the generated code with the AI to make it more efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debugging is still a part of my workflow, but it’s a different kind of debugging. I’m now less focused on finding errors from a blank page and more on refining and optimizing the AI’s output. It makes me wonder if there’s a way to feed my debugging process and code improvements back into the AI automatically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end result is a functional crossword generator<\/a> (code on my GitHub<\/a>) and a clear takeaway: AI is a powerful accelerator, but it’s a partnership that still requires your guidance.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I recently took on a new project: building a crossword generator. Instead of starting from scratch, I decided to test out Windsurf AI in VS Code. It was an interesting five-hour sprint that gave me some working code and a few key takeaways about AI-assisted development.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My biggest lesson was that you have to break down the problem. Giving the AI a single prompt to “build a crossword generator” was overwhelming and unproductive. The successful approach was to tackle smaller, more specific tasks, like generating the grid or placing a word.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The code it produced was functional<\/strong>, but it wasn’t perfect. I quickly learned that the AI is a great starting point, but it doesn’t always produce performant or elegant code. A developer’s critical eye is still essential. I spent a good amount of time reviewing and refactoring the generated code with the AI to make it more efficient.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Debugging is still a part of my workflow, but it’s a different kind of debugging. I’m now less focused on finding errors from a blank page and more on refining and optimizing the AI’s output. It makes me wonder if there’s a way to feed my debugging process and code improvements back into the AI automatically.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The end result is a functional crossword generator<\/a> (code on my GitHub<\/a>) and a clear takeaway: AI is a powerful accelerator, but it’s a partnership that still requires your guidance.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,25],"tags":[96,97,95],"class_list":["post-1014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hobby","category-websiteinformation","tag-ai","tag-vscode","tag-windsurf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1014"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1026,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014\/revisions\/1026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.joshho.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}