How to Do Things with Words?

In short

Vibe coding feels new, but getting things done by saying what you want is very old.

A prompt is a request. Like any request, it works when the listener has what it needs. Three small habits make your prompts work much better.

An old idea behind a new habit

In 1962 a philosopher named J.L. Austin wrote a book called How to Do Things with Words. His point was simple: some sentences do not describe the world, they do something. 'I promise.' 'Please close the door.' 'Build me a login page.'

That last one is vibe coding. Andrej Karpathy gave the practice that name in early 2025: you say what you want and let the AI write the code. The name is new. A client briefing a contractor or a manager handing out a task is doing the same thing.

When a prompt misfires

Say you type: 'Make me a nice landing page.' You get a page, but the tone is wrong, it is aimed at the wrong people, and there is no way to sign up.

The AI is not necessarily bad at this. You asked for something without saying who it was for, what it should do or how you would know it was right. A person would have asked you. An AI often just guesses.

Three habits that help

1. Say what you want it to do. Answer a question, draft something, list options or check your work? Put it in the first sentence.

2. Give the context. Who is it for? What already exists? What are the limits? The AI cannot guess what you have not told it.

3. Say what done looks like. 'A one-page site with a sign-up form for first-time students' is a request that can succeed.

Try it in two minutes

Take a prompt you wrote recently that did not work. Add the three things above and run it again. Then compare the new answer with what you meant.

If you get stuck for a word, the free AI glossary explains the terms in plain language. Knowing the right word makes it easier to ask for what you want.

I use the same idea when I plan work with AI. I describe it in My OPC: One Person Company Implementation.

If you would like to hear more of how I think about this, watch my TEDxCSTU talk on YouTube, One Skill Behind Every Breakthrough.

Want the long version?

Notes

This is one practitioner's plain-language reading of an idea from the study of language, not a scholarly survey. Product and course names belong to their owners.