David van Aelst

David van Aelst

Builder. No code. Three products.

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Maker History

  • APE Language
    APE LanguageDeterministic AI-first language. Built in 6 days. No code.
    Apr 2026
  • 🎉
    Joined Product HuntApril 11th, 2026

Forums

David van Aelst

2mo ago

How not knowing became a method, and how that method became structure

Hi, I m David.

I ve always looked at things structurally and analytically. That s just who I am.

I never had a technical education, but I could still see where tools in the workplace were falling short. Sometimes I could simplify things, automate parts of the work in Excel, and make processes clearer.

Then AI came along, and I started experimenting with it.

Questions about APE, XOX, or what “no code” means in practice?

I expect some of the claims around APE to raise questions, and that s fair.
So rather than overloading the launch page, I wanted to open a space for discussion here.

APE was built through XOX.
XOX did not come from theory. It came from repeatedly seeing where AI failed in real work, and realizing I had no coding knowledge to step in and correct it myself.
Structure was the only weapon I had.
So I analyzed those failures, found the patterns, and turned them into a method.

In XOX, architecture and decisions are locked before execution begins. If you want to ask about the method, the product, or what no code means in practice, ask away.

David van Aelst

2mo ago

APE Language - Deterministic AI-first language. Built in 6 days. No code.

APE is a deterministic AI-first programming language for unambiguous human-AI collaboration. Built in 6 days using XOX, a method where architecture is locked before execution. Includes a compiler, runtime, decision engine, stdlib, 850 passing tests, and integrations for Claude, OpenAI, and LangChain. 9,000+ downloads on PyPI.
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