Don’t copilot anything longer than a function of about 15 lines. That way you can quickly see if it made mistakes. Ensure it works, move on to the next.
And only do that for boring, repetitive work. The tough challenges and critical parts you’re (for now) better off solving yourself.
I won’t say copilot is completely useless for code. I will say that it’s near useless for me. The kind of code that it’s good at writing is the kind of code that I can write in my sleep. When I write a for-loop to iterate over an array and print it out (for example), it takes near zero brain power. I’m on autopilot, like driving to work. On the other hand, when I was trialing copilot I’d have to check each suggestion it made to verify that it wasn’t giving me garbage. Verifying copilot’s suggestions takes a lot more brain power than just writing it myself. And the difference in time is minimal. It doesn’t take me much longer to write it myself than it does to validate copilot’s work.
It’s to speed up boilerplate and save you having to look up function names or language specific syntax for that one feature you want to use, not to entirely do your job for you
If I’ve been working in the same language for at least a year or two, I don’t have to look up any of that. Copilot might be actually helpful if I’m working in a language I’m not used to, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had to look up syntax or functions (excluding 3rd party packages) for the language I work in.
If you are using “game engine” in the industry standard way, you would want to learn object oriented programming first, then learn how to use an existing game engine, and then MAYBE, in a long time, with a big team, build your own game engine.
ChatGPT as a programming tool like any other tool works a whole lot better when you are well versed in how the process should go. It speeds up the workflow of a professional, it doesn’t make a new worker better.
Don’t copilot anything longer than a function of about 15 lines. That way you can quickly see if it made mistakes. Ensure it works, move on to the next.
And only do that for boring, repetitive work. The tough challenges and critical parts you’re (for now) better off solving yourself.
Absolutely, I think the people who say it’s completely useless for code are in denial
Definitely not replacing anyone but my god it has sped up development by generating code I already know how to write 90% of
No more having to look up “what was the for loop syntax in this language again?”
I won’t say copilot is completely useless for code. I will say that it’s near useless for me. The kind of code that it’s good at writing is the kind of code that I can write in my sleep. When I write a for-loop to iterate over an array and print it out (for example), it takes near zero brain power. I’m on autopilot, like driving to work. On the other hand, when I was trialing copilot I’d have to check each suggestion it made to verify that it wasn’t giving me garbage. Verifying copilot’s suggestions takes a lot more brain power than just writing it myself. And the difference in time is minimal. It doesn’t take me much longer to write it myself than it does to validate copilot’s work.
“Copilot is really good at things which I already know” and that is perfectly fine
Exactly.
It’s to speed up boilerplate and save you having to look up function names or language specific syntax for that one feature you want to use, not to entirely do your job for you
If I’ve been working in the same language for at least a year or two, I don’t have to look up any of that. Copilot might be actually helpful if I’m working in a language I’m not used to, but it’s been a long time since I’ve had to look up syntax or functions (excluding 3rd party packages) for the language I work in.
Tried to learn coding using chatGPT. Wanted to make my own game engine for a phone game. Ended up looking up tutorials.
If you are using “game engine” in the industry standard way, you would want to learn object oriented programming first, then learn how to use an existing game engine, and then MAYBE, in a long time, with a big team, build your own game engine.
ChatGPT as a programming tool like any other tool works a whole lot better when you are well versed in how the process should go. It speeds up the workflow of a professional, it doesn’t make a new worker better.