4 ms·

There are a lot of comments equating stuff posted on SO with the stuff that ChatGPT produces, but in the before times code posted on SO was likely written with

There are a lot of comments equating stuff posted on SO with the stuff that ChatGPT produces, but in the before times code posted on SO was likely written with a specific objective in mind, while the GPT generated stuff is not. The best analogy I can think of is the distinction between aiming a gun (SO, spitball examples) and waving a gun (AI/ChatGPT). Both require you to double check where the gun is pointed but with the former you at least have some confidence that it's pointed in the right direction.

jghn 2y ago
Sure, these differences exist. I don't find the quality to be much different between the two sources. I treat both of them as a probably wrong, likely inexperienced developer. Sometimes they pleasantly surprise me. More often than not they don't but in both cases I make use of those resources because they at least move me in the right direction.