Should web developers utilize ChatGPT to fix their code? And what are the reasons behind some individuals claiming it is inappropriate?
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It’s a tool, like a spell checker or an auto formatter.
Can it be used to create code that the author has no idea how it works? Sure. Is that a bad thing? It depends on the use case, if this is someone claiming to be an expert coder in a particular field or language and it is actually ChatGPT, then that is going to be problematic. If the author is creating some code to do a task they need doing quickly, it’s totally fine.
If a programmer needs inspiration or a “hump” push to get them over the initial “How do I go about solving this???” moment we ALL get from time to time, then I see no issue whatsoever.
Tools can be abused, an electric drill does 90% of the hard work for you, but requires that you hold it in the correct location and guide it, same with ChatGPT.
Learning to work with AI in any given task is a force multiplier and will be a desirable skill moving forwards.
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There are many possible reasons why using ChatGPT as a dev to code may be inappropriate.
It implies that we don’t have think for ourselves and when someone demonstrates this mindset the results will be bad.
Then you have to instruct the model concise, complete and with the mindset of a supervisor/teacher who repeatedly informs the worker about all the intricacies, interconnections, requirements and use cases of the code. So even if you are very experienced but don’t display the discipline and experience when working with the model the results will also not be great.
Putting all of this together: it’s actually still hard to produce good code when using ChatGPT.
Take a look at this thread where developers explain in great length what they are doing to improve their results.
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