Liking Claude Code better than Cursor

As much as I love the Cursor editor for AI-assisted programming, recently I have really been getting into Claude Code which is similar but a command-line tool. It costs a small fortune ($5-$10/day), but it seems worth it to me.

I can't put my finger on why exactly I find it more useful than Cursor. I guess I like how Claude Code lets me do `create a branch, commit, push, make a pr, then open the pr in a browser` and it takes care of everything, including coming up with good commit and pr descriptions.

I also like how doing `commit and push` in Claude Code will commit and automatically fix up any lint or test errors that come up, repeating as needed. Especially handy for Rust code which is super-strict about compiler errors. I find myself pressing Enter a lot to accept its proposed changes.

Other things I like about Claude Code:

• It can resolve merge conflicts for me.

Example of how much ChatGPT image generation has improved

Recently OpenAI announced a major improvement to ChatGPT image generation and I can confirm by an example that it is a lot better.

Here is an example of a generated image that I asked for a couple of weeks ago:

Would you like me to turn this into a lock screen image or a printable version too?

Sure

A garbled, illegible mess.

Here is what it gives me today:

It is just what I asked for and all the words are there, unlike the first image. Much better.

 

My superpower: Grit

 I was listening to Grit, the audiobook, and I realized that my superpower isn’t just asking questions—it’s grit. It’s dogged determination.

I remember my high school English teacher, Mr. Featherstone, telling me that I wasn’t the smartest student he had ever worked with, but I was the hardest working. He said this after I submitted an essay on Flowers for Algernon, accompanied by a hundred-page analysis of the protagonist’s development, tracking his progress day by day along several axes, such as cognitive development and other categories I found in a book from the University of Victoria.

Another time, he pointed out my creativity when I affixed a metal bracket to my finger so I could play the violin in a school concert—despite having sprained my finger in a basketball accident. At first, I thought that moment highlighted a superpower of innovation or creativity. But upon further reflection, I think it comes back to grit—the determination to play somehow, even with an injury.

I’ve also considered my ability to ask good questions—to really get to the heart of a matter—as a superpower. But thinking about it more, that too comes back to grit: the deep desire to know, to truly understand.

So, I guess my superpower—my fundamental superpower—is grit. Dogged determination.