Considering how powerful it is, you might be wondering – can ChatGPT write code? Well, we’re here to tell you that it most certainly can, but there are a few catches. Let’s break it down.
ChatGPT, and its exploding popularity, has proven a major turning point in AI. The abilities of the chatbot are so advanced that people are finding uses for it in more and more businesses and industries, especially coding.
This is because part of the huge amount of data ChatGPT was trained on included data in several different coding languages. As a result, if you ask it to, it will generate a response in a coding language of your choice, even explaining certain choices it made. You can then use prompt engineering to fine-turn its response to further suit your needs.
While the code it generates is not perfect, it is remarkably good and is generated far faster than a human ever could. There are examples from across the internet of programs or bits of code people have got ChatGPT to write and these range from simple tasks to more complex, creative tasks.
In fact, coders are already incorporating it into their workflows, freeing up more time for them to test and debug, leaving some of the brute work to the AI.
OpenAI seems determined to increase ChatGPT’s ability in coding too. They recently announced a code interpreter plugin. This is a tool that makes coding with ChatGPT even easier, as it can actually run the code it is generating. Some of the potential uses include identifying trends in data sets, coding representations of them, and converting file formats.
Like with the other ChatGPT plugins, it is currently only available to those who are accepted after signing up for the waiting list.
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What kind of code can ChatGPT write?
ChatGPT is trained in all the main programming languages including Python, JavaScript, C++ and many more. It will be able to generate proficient code for you in each of these languages based on input in plain English. An example of a simple one is below.
It is also able to generate code for far more complex tasks, though when it does so some errors may start to appear. This means that you should always double-check and proofread the code generated in ChatGPT. When you spot an issue you can simply point it out to the chatbot and ask it to correct it and it will in a matter of seconds.
Read more: How to use GPT-4 with ChatGPT?
There are also loads of examples of ChatGPT debugging code. It is not only able to identify the bug but can then explain the error, fix it and explain that fix.
The time-saving potentials of this are obvious, and clearly, it will have a huge impact on the coding world. Not only will it make development time faster and save time for programmers, but it opens up coding to potentially everyone.
While it has its limitations, new iterations of GPT, such as GPT-4 are only going to get better and better at coding. This means that even someone with no experience can now generate code simply by giving the correct prompts in natural language.
Frequently asked questions
Does ChatGPT make efficient code?
It depends, sometimes the code makes it very efficient, though sometimes it is not. This means that programs coded by ChatGPT may run slower or use up more resources.
Can ChatGPT write code in Matlab?
yes, Matlab is one of the programming languages that ChatGPT is able to code in.
