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Some of these sample prompts in this blog post are extremely verbose: If you are considering leveraging any of the documentation or examples, you need to valid
by JeremyNT 1y ago
Some of these sample prompts in this blog post are extremely verbose:
If you are considering leveraging any of the documentation or examples, you need to validate that the documentation or example actually matches what is currently in the code.
I have better luck being more concise and avoiding anthropomorphizing. Something like:
"validate documentation against existing code before implementation"
Should accomplish the same thing!
- Wowfunhappy 1y agoI've had both experiences. On some projects concise instructions seem to work better. Other times, the LLM seems to benefit from verbosity. This is definitely a way in which working with LLMs is frustrating. I find them helpful, but I don't know that I'm getting "better" at using them. Every time I feel like I've discovered something, it seems to be situation specific.
- brookst 1y agoI have the best luck with RFC speak. “You MUST validate that the documentation validates existing code before implementation. You MAY update documentation to correct any mismatches.” But I also use more casual style when investigating. “See what you think about the existing inheritance model, propose any improvements that will make it easier to maintain. I was thinking that creating a new base class for tree and flower to inherit from might make sense, but maybe that’s over complicating things” (Expressing uncertainty seems to help avoid the model latching on to every idea with “you’re absolutely right!”)
- JeremyNT 1y agoRFC speak is a good way to put it. Also, there's a big difference between giving general "always on" context (as in agents.md) for vibe coding - like "validate against existing code" etc - versus bouncing ideas in a chat session like your example, where you don't necessarily have a specific approach in mind and burning a few extra tokens for a one off query is no big deal. Context isn't free (either literally or in terms of processing time) and there's definitely a balance to be found for a given task.
- enraged_camel 1y agoNot my experience at all. I find that the shorter my prompts, the more garbage the results. But if I give it a lot of detail and elaborate on my thought process, it performs very well, and often one-shots the solution.