Over the last year I’ve been learning Swift and starting to put together some iOS apps. I’d definitely class myself as a Swift beginner.

I’m currently building an app and today I used ChatGPT to help with a function I needed to write. I found myself wondering if somehow I was “cheating”. In the past I would have used YouTube videos, online tutorials and Stack Overflow, and adapted what I found to work for my particular usage case.

Is using ChatGPT different? The fact that ChatGPT explains the code it writes and often the code still needs fettling to get it to work makes me think that it is a useful learning tool and that as long as I take the time to read the explanations given and ensure I understand what the code is doing then it’s probably a good thing on balance.

I was just wondering what other people’s thoughts are?

Also, as a side note, I found that chucking code I had written in to ChatGPT and asking it to comment every line was pretty successful and a. big time saver :D

Edit: Thanks everyone for insightful and considered replies.

I think the general consensus is basically where my head was at - use it as a tool like you would SO or other resources but be aware the code may be incorrect, and the reality is there will be work required to adapt and integrate with your current project (very much like SO) and that’s where you programming skills really come in to play.

I think I still have imposter syndrome when it comes to development, which is maybe where the question was coming from in my mind. :D.

  • JackbyDev@programming.dev
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    No, it’s not cheating, but also please don’t blindly trust it. Random people on the internet can be wrong too but people can at least correct them if they are. Stuff ChatGPT outputs is fresh for your eyes only.

    Edit: typo

    • mrkite@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Agreed. While I’ve never used ChatGPT on an actual project, I’ve tested it on theoretical problems and I’ve never seen it give an answer that didn’t have a problem.

      So I would treat it like any answer on Stack Overflow, use it as a start, but you should definitely customize it and fix any edge cases.