• AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I feel like for simple algorithms chatGPT could be good. Like as a reference for how to code something. But if it’s simple code I often find it faster to just write it myself then reorganize whatever it makes to work with and match the style of other code in my codebase. And if it’s complex code I often find it harder to describe what I want then to just make it.

    • flossdaily@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      In my experience, what makes gpt-4 great for coding is its astonishing knowledge of available software libraries, built-in interface features, etc.

      I’ll tell it the task I want done, and it will tell me where to find, and how to install the necessary dependencies.

      With zero experience in browser extension design, gpt-4 helped me to build an incredibly complicated Chrome extension, using vector database; creating a custom, cloud-based server; web scraping with headless browsers, voice recognition, speech synthesis, wake-word capabilities, and a sophisticated user interface. I had ZERO experience with ANY of these.

      For me, using gpt-4 was like collaborating with a just okay programmer, but one who had extensive experience with literally every programming language, API, protocol, etc.

      And it was a collaboration. We would talk through problems together. I would make observations and guesses about why a block of code wasn’t working, and it would tell me why I was wrong, or alternately tell me I was right, and produce a fixed version.