Among other things I've been asking ChatGPT to implement algorithms ("can you turn this pseudocode into a Processing script?"), then iterate ("ok, now take the last two functions we wrote, put them in a class, and pass the string as an object variable"). It reminds me of a conversation with SHRDLU, but with code not blocks.
It's a powerful feeling - you get to explore a problem space, but a lot of the grunt work is done by a helpful elf. The closest example I've found in fiction is this scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaUuE582vq8) from TNG (Geordi solves a problem on the holodeck). The future of recreational programming, at least, is going to be fun.
I learned to program by the "type in the listing from the magazine, and modify it" method, and I worry that we've built our tower of abstractions way too high. LLM's might bring some of the fun and exploration back to learning to code.
>LLM's might bring some of the fun and exploration back to learning to code.
Absolutely. I am an extremely technical, well-read, but NOT A PROGRAMMER... and I am having fun learning to code well enough for Wikipedia editing (I have a 20+ year account there which is cited by ChatGPT when asking certain technical questions) and creation of simple JSON databases and movie script writing.
I love how on YouTube all these <10k subscriber Prompt Engineers are just playing and having fun on their videos, and retiring from their dead-end IT jobs that can never afford to fully appreciate them.
One particularly adept quote that I am just-now relating to (after six weeks playing with GPT-like systems) is when David Shapiro (YouTuber Tech Guy) says: "I have been in IT for decades and decided recently to just turn my phone/email off, because nobody appreciates what I'm trying to explain to them, until they just start playing around with it themselves... and then they want to call me and get information from me that initial was "stupid" — and I just don't have time for this" (less than faithfully paraphrasing). His entire channel is worth spending a few hours to understand; I would suggest starting in his collection with [AIpocolypse] then his very recent topic on [Companionship], and then lastly get a well-rounded POV by taking in a woman's incredible understanding of this technology by watching David Shapiro's interview with [Anna Bernstein].
I have turned my own phone off and am instead just playing around internally with this incredible tool that let's you access limitless datasets in mere seconds for less than a penny.
It's a powerful feeling - you get to explore a problem space, but a lot of the grunt work is done by a helpful elf. The closest example I've found in fiction is this scene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaUuE582vq8) from TNG (Geordi solves a problem on the holodeck). The future of recreational programming, at least, is going to be fun.
I learned to program by the "type in the listing from the magazine, and modify it" method, and I worry that we've built our tower of abstractions way too high. LLM's might bring some of the fun and exploration back to learning to code.