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What do you use it for? So far it seems to be okay to get a project started in programming but overall it sits in the way of solutions and learning a new techno

What do you use it for? So far it seems to be okay to get a project started in programming but overall it sits in the way of solutions and learning a new technology. It seems to be okay at rewriting text so I don't plaigerize myself when I'm writing papers or proposals. It actually does a really nice job of classifying technical reports which is way easier to implement than any NLP solution but definitely not the most accurate. Overall if it didn't exist I think I wouldn't miss it even though I currently pay for chatgpt.

moffkalast 3y ago
> sits in the way of solutions and learning a new technology How so? I find it to be most useful in that exact area. Taking your existing code and turning it into another language, implementing something with a library you want to try but can't be arsed to read the docs for, making a first draft of an implementation you're not sure how to begin, or just researching what exists in general. Learning new things has never been this easy.
- steve_adams_86 3y ago
  I agree. I generally use it to learn something that’s in the way of me getting something done. In an example I gave elsewhere, I used it to figure out how to generate a jigsaw puzzle with three.js. I had no clear path forward at first, but I finished most of the project in a few hours in the end. It would have been a lot longer without GPT. Having said that, I still like to dig around the internet and go on tangents. Having fast answers is great in some contexts, but I still value going on deep dives and collecting all kinds of unexpected (even if irrelevant) bits of knowledge. That’s actually preferably, but only possible when I’ve got a lot of time on my hands. Which isn’t very often.
- mnky9800n 3y ago
  It could be a me problem because lately I'm stretched too thin but it seems to end up being a crutch too often when programming in unfamiliar languages and then I don't have the time to go on and understand what's going on before I move to the next step. This has obvious compounding issues.
steve_adams_86 3y ago
Maybe a good example would be most recently when I was creating a serializable state machine library (I know they exist and are good enough, it was an exercise). I created the serialized state as JSON and planned to work backward from there. This would allow me to describe the capabilities of the machines and how their features would work in practice. I was able to feed that serialized machine into GPT and ask how to implement various features, and it was remarkably effective. Most of it was trivial to implement, but there was the odd bit where GPT saw various connections between features which I was missing. It also made some mistakes of course, but generally did a good job of keeping the ball rolling. I could have done this alone without a doubt. It was so smooth and easy with GPT though that I finished fairly quickly and really enjoyed it. I generally got what I wanted out of the project without going down rabbit holes or dumping more time than I could afford. Otherwise it helped me figure out how to arbitrarily generate a jigsaw puzzle based on an image and a few parameters in three.js. That was a bit out of my comfort zone but all of its suggestions and solutions were sufficient to keep me moving and solving the problems. I’m not sure I would have finished otherwise. My goal is to make a multiplayer puzzle game with the intent of demonstrating how to manage moves, interactions, and play states over multiple clients and servers. That part is east for me, but creating a usable demo in three was not. Yet relatively attainable in a reasonable timeframe with GPT. It could be that I learn slowly. I’m over a decade into my career and still find myself poring over documentation of things I suspect I should know by now. Like the math for creating a jigsaw puzzle. It’s basic stuff but I totally drew blanks at first. If that’s the case, perhaps it’s why GPT is so useful to me. It breaks down the odd barrier that might otherwise become a rabbit hole or a major time sink.

moffkalast 3y ago

> sits in the way of solutions and learning a new technology How so? I find it to be most useful in that exact area. Taking your existing code and turning it into another language, implementing something with a library you want to try but can't be arsed to read the docs for, making a first draft of an implementation you're not sure how to begin, or just researching what exists in general. Learning new things has never been this easy.

steve_adams_86 3y ago
I agree. I generally use it to learn something that’s in the way of me getting something done. In an example I gave elsewhere, I used it to figure out how to generate a jigsaw puzzle with three.js. I had no clear path forward at first, but I finished most of the project in a few hours in the end. It would have been a lot longer without GPT. Having said that, I still like to dig around the internet and go on tangents. Having fast answers is great in some contexts, but I still value going on deep dives and collecting all kinds of unexpected (even if irrelevant) bits of knowledge. That’s actually preferably, but only possible when I’ve got a lot of time on my hands. Which isn’t very often.
mnky9800n 3y ago
It could be a me problem because lately I'm stretched too thin but it seems to end up being a crutch too often when programming in unfamiliar languages and then I don't have the time to go on and understand what's going on before I move to the next step. This has obvious compounding issues.

steve_adams_86 3y ago

Maybe a good example would be most recently when I was creating a serializable state machine library (I know they exist and are good enough, it was an exercise). I created the serialized state as JSON and planned to work backward from there. This would allow me to describe the capabilities of the machines and how their features would work in practice. I was able to feed that serialized machine into GPT and ask how to implement various features, and it was remarkably effective. Most of it was trivial to implement, but there was the odd bit where GPT saw various connections between features which I was missing. It also made some mistakes of course, but generally did a good job of keeping the ball rolling. I could have done this alone without a doubt. It was so smooth and easy with GPT though that I finished fairly quickly and really enjoyed it. I generally got what I wanted out of the project without going down rabbit holes or dumping more time than I could afford. Otherwise it helped me figure out how to arbitrarily generate a jigsaw puzzle based on an image and a few parameters in three.js. That was a bit out of my comfort zone but all of its suggestions and solutions were sufficient to keep me moving and solving the problems. I’m not sure I would have finished otherwise. My goal is to make a multiplayer puzzle game with the intent of demonstrating how to manage moves, interactions, and play states over multiple clients and servers. That part is east for me, but creating a usable demo in three was not. Yet relatively attainable in a reasonable timeframe with GPT. It could be that I learn slowly. I’m over a decade into my career and still find myself poring over documentation of things I suspect I should know by now. Like the math for creating a jigsaw puzzle. It’s basic stuff but I totally drew blanks at first. If that’s the case, perhaps it’s why GPT is so useful to me. It breaks down the odd barrier that might otherwise become a rabbit hole or a major time sink.