The impact of Artificial Intelligence(AI) on programming has been significant, starting with its ability to generate code, test software, and create user interfaces.
However, as AI evolves, there are growing concerns about AI replacing programmers. One of the most recent examples of this type of AI is CHATGPT, a text-based chatbot software application.
In view of the above, I address the following question to the esteemed community of programmers.
What is ChatGPT?
How can ChatGPT benefit programmers?
Will CHATGPT replace programmers?
In this article, I will analyze these questions in more detail.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT (pronounced "chat G-P-T") is an AI chatbot created by OpenAI. The "GPT" in chatGPT stands for" Generative Pre-trained Transformation," which refers to how chatGPT processes language. Released in November 2022, it is one of the largest and most sophisticated AI models currently available, with 175 billion features.
ChatGPT is designed to engage in natural language conversations with humans. It can be used for a variety of tasks like language translation, language processing, question answering, and content development. ChatGPT is trained on a large amount of text data, allowing it to generate more informative, relevant, and clear responses.
How can ChatGPT benefit programmers?
Programming comes with lots of challenges. As a programmer, you probably want to make your work easy and increase your productivity. With the development of ChatGPT, programmers can achieve more with ChatGPT.
Here are some ways ChatGPT benefits programmers:
Code generation
ChatGPT can generate code quickly and with great accuracy. By supplying ChatGPT with a code template and a set of commands, it can produce new code that is specific to your needs. This can be an excellent approach to accelerating your development process while also learning new coding techniques.
For instance, let's say you need to create a function that extracts data from this array, but you don't remember how.
Let's ask ChatGPT to return all the students' ages as an array.
Translate code into another language
As a programmer, you are familiar with at least one or two programming languages. However, have you found yourself in a situation where you are required to code in another language you are not familiar with? ChatGPT can assist you in translating any piece of code into the language of your choice.
The preceding screenshot is an example of a "while loop" in JavaScript. Let’s ask ChatGPT for the exact example of "while loop" in Python, and here’s the result:
Fix bugs
ChatGPT can detect errors in a matter of seconds, ranging from incorrect brackets and commas to logical errors. Simply copy and paste the problem code and ask ChatGPT to find the bugs. As a result, programmers no longer have to spend hours finding the root cause of a bug, which can save them lots of time and effort.
In the preceding screenshot, ChatGPT doesn’t only identify the bug but also gives a detailed solution to the cause of the bug.
Information gathering and researching
For programmers looking for information, ChatGPT can be a useful tool, comparable to a search engine or a question-and-answer website like Stack Overflow. The model can understand difficult programming concepts and provide programmers with helpful information.
ChatGPT serves as a search engine, providing relevant code examples and snippets. For example, programmers can use ChatGPT to ask technical questions about a specific programming language, and the model will respond with an appropriate response.
Here you can see the response that ChatGPT gives when asked, "What is JavaScript callback hell?"
Code Documentation
ChatGPT can help you write simple and clear documentation for your code. Programmers who spend lots of time creating extensive documentation for their code can greatly benefit from ChatGPT in terms of time savings. By supplying information about your code to the model, it can generate extensive documentation that explains how your code works and how to use it.
In the preceding screenshot, you can see ChatGPT-generated documentation of an async function using JSDoc comments in JavaScript.
Code completion
ChatGPT can help with code completion by suggesting the following logical line of code to write based on the given context. This can save you time and help you prevent mistakes, especially if you're working with a new language or library you are not familiar with.
Here you can see the complete code that ChatGPT generated for a simple html web page:
Writing test cases
ChatGPT can help programmers write test cases in a variety of ways. One way is to identify the purpose of the test case and create test inputs and expected outputs. ChatGPT can identify the logic and structure behind the code you provide, making it useful for writing test cases. As a result, ChatGPT can write test cases for various code pathways.
Here's a simple example of a test case in Python using the unittest framework for a hypothetical getHTTPclient method that sends a GET request:
Overall, CHATGPT can be a valuable tool for programmers, helping them save time, learn new skills, improve their coding abilities, and collaborate more effectively with other programmers.
Will ChatGPT replace programmers?
As an AI language model, ChatGPT can assist programmers in many ways, such as answering their questions, providing code samples, and suggesting potential solutions. However, it cannot entirely replace programmers because programming requires more than just generating code. It involves logic, creativity, algorithm design, system architecture, and testing. Programming also involves decision-making, debugging, and problem-solving skills, which are based on experience and human judgment. Thus, while ChatGPT can be a helpful tool for programmers, it cannot replace the critical thinking and problem-solving skills of a programmer.
Conclusion
Without a doubt, ChatGPT is a highly advanced language model; however, it is unlikely to replace programmers in the near future. Programming requires a diverse set of abilities and skills that AI cannot replicate.
In fact, ChatGPT's progress may possibly result in a rise in the demand for programmers, as businesses, institutions, and companies would require knowledgeable experts who can work with AI technologies and incorporate them into their software development processes.
Programmers should take advantage of ChatGPT as a helpful tool for their work rather than seeing it as a threat to their jobs.