AIder AI vs Cursor Ai

Two AI code completion workflows

News

California passes AI protection bill, AB 2602. And Tennesse has passed the Elvis Act.

Meta has released new research on Transfusion, a recipe for training a multi-modal model over discrete and continuous data. Transfusion combines the language modeling loss function (next token prediction) with diffusion to train a single transformer over mixed-modality sequences. 

Magic has released the first model with a 100 million context window.

OpenAI and Anthropic signed AI safety deals with the US government.

Opus clip an AI tool that can be used to make reels and YouTube shorts from longform YouTube or other videos recently raised $30 million.

In case you had not heard a Brazilian judge has ordered the X platform blocked in Brazil and the Supreme Court of Brazil has upheld that decision.

Also, I recently made a list of what I think are the best AI note-taking apps.

AI For Good

Scientists are still grappling with the mysteries of tornado formation—how, why, and when they occur. This uncertainty makes tornadoes extraordinarily difficult to forecast. James Kurdzo, a principal investigator on MIT's TorNet project, notes, "In examining identical storm systems, one will produce a tornado and one won't. We don't fully understand it."

Artificial intelligence, particularly deep learning, may provide the key to unlocking these mysteries.

Earlier this year, MIT researchers took a significant step forward by open-sourcing TorNet, a dataset containing hundreds of thousands of radar images of storm systems and tornadoes. Along with this dataset, they released several AI models trained on it.

The results are promising. The baseline deep learning model developed by the researchers performed on par with or better than existing tornado-detection systems. It successfully classified 50% of weaker EF-1 tornadoes and over 85% of tornadoes rated EF-2 or higher—the most devastating and costly of these storms. This is particularly noteworthy given that the current rate of false alarms for tornado warnings exceeds 70%.

However, the key to widespread adoption of this AI approach is in its explainability. Researchers need to understand how and why the model reaches its conclusions.

Kurdzo hopes it will help forecasters make better predictions, potentially restoring public trust in tornado warnings and increasing evacuation times. Moreover, he believes this system could help unravel the fundamental science behind tornado formation.

Prompt


Prompt: “An abstract alcohol ink illustration of a duck with a watercolor-like texture. The duck is in a serene lake with ripples. The background contains mountains and trees. The overall image has a calming, meditative ambiance.”

Non-Image Prompt

Act as a learning coach to incorporate active learning strategies into studying [enter subject]. Provide specific examples of activities such as problem-solving, discussion, teaaching others, and applying concepts in a practical manner.

Aider AI vs Cursor AI

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has significantly advanced in its ability to assist in writing code, transforming how software development is approached. AI tools are increasingly capable of generating code, identifying errors, and optimizing workflows, although they are not yet able to completely replace human programmers for complex coding tasks.

AI coding assistants, such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and Aider, act as virtual pair programmers, offering real-time code suggestions, autocompletion, and even generating entire code snippets. These tools leverage large language models (LLMs) and natural language processing (NLP) to understand human language and convert it into code, making the coding process more efficient and accessible to developers of all skill levels. They can handle routine coding tasks, reduce the need for context switching, and help identify coding errors and potential security vulnerabilities.

Generative AI tools like these are designed to enhance developer productivity by streamlining the software development process. They allow developers to focus on higher-level tasks and problem-solving by automating repetitive coding tasks. As AI technology continues to evolve, its role in code generation and software development is expected to grow, offering even more sophisticated capabilities and improvements in code quality and efficiency

Intro to Aider

Aider is an open-source AI coding assistant designed to enhance the software development process by automating code generation and providing real-time code suggestions. It operates as a command-line interface (CLI) tool, primarily integrating with OpenAI's GPT models such as GPT-4 and GPT-3.5, and plans to incorporate additional models over time.Aider is particularly useful for developers looking to streamline their workflow.

Aider integrates easily with Git, allowing automatic commits and facilitating tasks such as adding unit tests, refactoring, and managing code changes. This integration ensures that developers can easily track and roll back changes when necessary. Aider also supports multi-file editing and can be used with various programming languages, making it a versatile tool for different coding environments.

Aider is capable of giving context aware code suggestions. Inpractice this mean it means that the tool can understand and utilize the structure and content of the entire codebase to provide relevant and accurate coding assistance. Aider achieves this by creating a "map" of the repository, which includes signatures and relevant information about the codebase. 

Intro to Cursor AI

Built on the foundation of Visual Studio Code, Cursor leverages large language models to generate code snippets, functions, and even entire files based on natural language descriptions. This makes it particularly useful for rapidly prototyping and developing ideas.

Cursor offers features such as code autocompletion, syntax suggestions, and natural language coding capabilities, allowing developers to edit code using simple prompts. It integrates with OpenAI’s API, enabling users to leverage the latest advancements in AI for code generation. Cursor is also emphasizes privacy and security, ensuring that user code remains secure with features like privacy mode and SOC 2 certification.

Cursor is designed to be familiar to users of existing code editors, allowing easy import of extensions, themes, and keybindings. It is praised for its ability to understand the codebase, predict next edits, and enhance the overall coding experience, making it a valuable tool for both beginners and experienced developers looking to boost productivity.

Aider vs Cursor

One is of course open source and free, and Cursor is a clsed source tool that costs $$20/month for quality output. That right there may be enough to lead many to use Aider before Cursor. You could use both. Start with Cursor and complete with Aider because it is more expensive to use. Use Cursor for basic code generation and AIder for refinment which can take longer.

Cursor excels in generating code from natural language descriptions, making it ideal for rapid prototyping and development. It integrates well with OpenAI’s API to provide advanced AI functionalities for code generation, including snippets, functions, and entire files.

Aider is known for its lightweight design and interactive nature, focusing on code quality and real-time feedback. It allows developers to work efficiently by providing valuable code suggestions and edits.

Built on Visual Studio Code, Cursor offers a familiar interface with enhanced AI capabilities like code autocompletion and syntax suggestions. It supports multifile editing and next action prediction, aiming to improve the overall coding experience.

 As an open-source tool, Aider offers more control and customization over the coding process. It supports multiple LLM providers and can be used in any editor via a terminal-based interface, allowing precise control and integration with tools like Vim.

Each tool is a good option for coding but Aider being open source I would give a slight edge as it is also free - which as a former coder myself I would like - and I can conrol.