ChatGPT: The End of Programming (As We Know It)

And the beginning of cooler things.

Image via Shutterstock under license to Frank Andrade

The first time I used ChatGPT, it blew up my mind.

I couldn’t believe this AI-powered chatbot could write code in many languages, debug code, translate code from one programming language to another, write scripts from scratch, etc.

Although I doubt ChatGPT can ever replace a software engineer or developer, I think this tool is the end of many tasks we often do as programmers and also the beginning of new opportunities in the field.

Here’s how ChatGPT will change the field of programming.

Coding is dead

If there’s something ChatGPT is good at is coding.

ChatGPT has read more documentations than anyone would see in their entire life. That’s why it can write scripts effortlessly in little time and also provide step-by-step explanations of what it does.

ChatGPT is a good coder, but not a good software engineer, or developer.

This AI can’t design software from an engineering perspective considering the business needs, or fix errors different from those seen on its training data.

At least for now!

This tool can’t replace those whose job goes beyond coding. On the contrary, this tool can open a wide variety of opportunities for those who work with code.

You only need to give the right instruction to this chatbot and it can simplify your job. This leads us to the next point.

The beginning of more efficient developers

There are many tools that helped us become more efficient:

StackOverflow has helped us find the answer to many coding questions.
Scripting has helped us automate multiple tedious processes.
Templates have helped us avoid writing code repeatedly.

ChatGPT can go beyond that.

It’s not perfect. It won’t always give the desired result. But when it clearly understands what we want, it’s a beast.

Say you’re building a website for a new client. Instead of customizing one of your templates to your client’s needs, you can simply ask chatGPT to write the HTML and CSS code for you. You can indicate what sections you want to include. You can even specify whether it’s an e-commerce or portfolio website, so it customizes the output even more.

Here’s an example.

write code for an ecommerce website using html and CSS. include navigation bar, body section and products with prices

Below is part of the code generated by ChatGPT.

Now, all we have to do is copy/paste the code and see what the page looks like.

Isn’t that efficient?

ChatGPT might change the duties in entry-level jobs

Is ChatGPT the end of junior developers?

To answer this question, let’s see what’s expected from this position. Here’s what I found on a LinkedIn job post.

1. To develop and deliver codes for the work assigned in accordance with time, quality and cost standards
2. To maintain the existing project by resolving, troubleshooting, or debugging
3. To understand client requirements and develop code to create required features
4. Documentation of work

ChatGPT can do tasks 1, 2, and 4 faster and better than a junior developer.

You don’t even need to spend time and resources teaching stuff to the chatbot because it’s already good at coding.

We can’t say the same about junior developers.

But here’s the thing, tools like ChatGPT need someone who gives the right instruction to get the desired output. Also, you need someone who can interpret the results and is able to identify the chatbot’s mistakes.

People without coding knowledge will struggle to handle a tool like this, so probably junior developers will spend some of their time working with ChatGPT.

The salary might drop (or not), and the role might change but the junior position would not be replaced by this chatbot.

The acceleration in learning how to code

Some people claim that ChatGPT can turn anyone into a programmer simply because now everyone can generate code through simple commands.

I don’t think so.

What I do believe is that ChatGPT can accelerate the learning process in learning coding. This tool helps you solve your coding questions and give a detailed explanation of what it did.

If ChatGPT doesn’t become a paid tool (which is pretty unlikely), it could be much better than StackOverflow or Google because we can get answers to most questions right away.

No more ads.
No more wrong answers.
No more long coding articles that don’t go to the point.

But that will be too good to be free.

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