Original Blog Entry: On using ChatGPT to help generate starter code and squash bugs

hypersoniq — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 18:53:40 GMT

I am finally near completion of my modified follower script. It is far less complex and does the same exact thing for any csv history file from pick 3 to powerball... and went from 2,200 lines of code to under 100!

Bottom line... do not mention lottery... and prepare to Do Your Own Research (DYOR) because generative AI is not taking any software development jobs anytime soon!

It was a long and difficult process to get to the code I have now. The benefit is obvious but here are the pitfalls...

1. Open a bunch of notepads, because many times when implementing a requested change it messes with the core functionality. Develop a quick and dirty versioning system, like typing V1, V2 etc... at the top of each text file of copied code... then Read it! Make sure there are no obvious logic errors like endless loops inside of functions.

2. Type your comments and code samples into notepad first, then paste into the GPT comment box. After a few days of accumulated chat, it gets SLOW!

3. Be prepared to re state your goals over and over again. While it is amazing software, it is like working with 10 Second Tommy from the movie 50 First Dates. (NOT an exaggeration!!!)

I have one more change to add on my own, then the refactoring of the follower code will be complete. It took the better part of 2 weeks.

I still have to figure out how to interpret the results and get a pick, but that is like every other system.

I used Chat GPT to learn about certain aspects of programming that I was not well versed in, like Pandas Data Frames and the proper implementation of recursion in function design, but I had a clear vision of what I wanted the code to do and just needed a few tweaks to get there. This time I provided the starter code and the tweaks and problem solutions were more evenly divided than just asking it for a program like it was some sort of Genie...

It is a great asset because literally no one else I know in real life is into programming, but it is not a clean sheet code generator either, you need to have a clear vision of what you want.

If you wanted to learn how to write code from scratch, there is probably no better resource.... [ More ]