How ChatGPT Is Helping Developers Write Better Code

How ChatGPT Is Helping Developers Write Better Code

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  Mr. Irsad 3 days ago
• 15
• 11 min read

OpenAI’s ChatGPT is not just a chatbot, but it is turning out to be one of the most useful toolkits in the developer's toolbox. With its continuous ability to understand natural language, generate highly accurate reports, and interpret code across multiple sets of programming languages. ChatGPT is just refining how developers will write, debug as well and repair their code.

Let's explore now how ChatGPT is helping developers write better code. They can do this in a smart, fast, and more efficient way than ever.

1. A personal coding assistant for 24*7

Just imagine you are stuck at 2 AM and then trying to understand why Python scripts just keep on throwing a KeyError. Now you no longer have to. Dog through the stack overflow, threads, and also no one will be awake to help you out.

With ChatGPT, you are never alone.

ChatGPT can easily :

• Explain what a particular error just means
• Provide examples that are particularly tailored to your issue
• Translate all the bugs into layman's terms
• Suggest some fixes based on the code snippets that you paste.

Just for example, and instance, the paste below gives

Python code

Copy Code

                            data = {'name': 'Alice'}
                            print(data['age'])
                            

And with this, ChatGPT will explain.

“This KeyError mostly occurs when the key name called ‘age’ doesn't exist in the dictionary data. For this, you can use .get(‘age’)instead, which will then return None if the key is found missing.”

This type of instant help will reduce hours of frustration and also keep developers productive.

2. Learning some new language or frameworks that will make it easy

Do you want to? Shift from Python to Go? Are you curious about how Rust or React often works?

Just learning a new programming language or even a framework can feel. Quite overwhelming. But ChatGPT can just simplify this :

• Creating some interesting sample projects
• Translating code between different sets of languages
• Just giving beginner-friendly explanations is another area
• Answering a particular set of queries, like “ How does memory management work in Rust?” or even “How do I write a forEach loop in JavaScript?”

Now you can easily say goodbye to endless YouTube tutorials, as you will have an interactive teacher.

3. Be ready to generate boilerplate code.

Boilerplate code often means code that is time-consuming and mundane. Why should you write the same code repeatedly if you can generate the same?

You can do so with simple prompts like :

“Generate a basic CRUD API in Node.js with the help of Express.”

ChatGPT will help in the output of the following :

• Project structure
• Required set of packages
• Some error handling and also middleware examples
• RESTful code for various options like create, read, update, and delete.

This is helpful for different reasons, like :

• Hackathons
• Prototyping
• MVP ( Minimum Viable Product ) development

While AI focuses on a repetitive set of tasks, you just need to be ready to focus on business logic.

4. Writing both cleaner and an efficient code

Sometimes we write code that is just working, but it is not efficient or elegant.

You can paste that particular spaghetti code into ChatGPT and say :

• “Optimize this particular function”.
• “Make this code more Pythonic.”
• Convert this loop to a list comprehension.

ChatGPT can just :

• Improve the naming of the variable
• Use some of the built-in functions
• Remove redundancy
• Make your code a readable and maintainable one.

All this will not only improve the quality of code but also encourage better coding practices through some of the renowned examples.

5. Real-time debugging and also troubleshooting

Are you stuck with some cryptic error messages? Then don't worry. Now, you paste a snippet of that error code along with the error in ChatGPT.

It will not only diagnose problems but also give some realistic solutions.

You might ask below questions :

• “Why does this SQL query return a null set of values?”
• “Fix one of the segmentation faults in C.”
• “What is going wrong with my async and await syntax ?”

Instead of wasting your precious 30 minutes googling and trying to fix things. This ChatGPT can give you a tailored set of solutions for your issue.

6. Creating some of the test cases and also unit tests

Testing is a quite critical component but an often overlooked one. Writing a comprehensive set of test cases is itself a tedious task. ChatGPT can help us in this by :

• Creating some edge case test inputs.
• Exploring options on how to lock the API and also test cases.
• Better test coverage strategies are also suggested here.
• Unit tests are generated using frameworks like JUnit, PyTest, and Mocha etc.

For example, write unit tests for login functions using unittest.

Boom - Here is a complete test suite with setUp.assertions and also cases of failure.

7. Assistance is given in documentation, and also some interesting comments.

Good code itself is self-explanatory. But writing clean documentation tasks is not made for everyone and is neither their favourite work.

This ChatGPT can :

• Write code-related comments
• Generate some doc strings
• Draft some README files
• Code modules are explained for handover or onboarding purposes.

Prompt example

“Add comments to JavaScript code just by explaining each of the steps.”

Apart from this, it is also great and best at generating some markdown-formatted documents and some changelogs. All this will save hours of technical routing work for sure.

8. Transmission of code between languages

Need to translate Python code to Java programming or C++? ChatGPT can do this easily.

“Convert this Python code to Java.”

This will not just change the syntax. This will just explain the difference between other concepts, like how this list comprehension in Python has to be looped manually in Java.

Great for :

• Interview preparation
• Cross-platform projects set
• Understanding the nuances of language
9. Practicing for coding interviews

Coding interviews are quite nerve-wracking. So, in this case, ChatGPT can be your mock interviewer also.

Try :

• “Ask me 5 coding questions related to dynamic programming.”
• “Explain quickdirt with an example.”
• “Give questions on linked lists sorted based on difficulty.”

Apart from this, you can :

• Solve problems and also ask ChatGPT to check the logic.
• Get all hints without any kind of spoilers.
• Understand space as well as time complexity.

Here you will get Leetcode + mentor in just one.

10. Collaborative pair programming

This ChatGPT just acts as a partner in programming that is not judged and is always quite patient. Ask :

“Let's build a to-do app together. Just guide me step by step.” “Help me in refactoring this backend service.”

It can also help with :

• Just integrating with third-party apps.
• Planning of architecture
• Suggesting some better libraries
• Writing modules together.

This collaborative approach will help beginners to gain confidence, and experts will also get a second opinion. This will also be minus human ego.

Real-world amazing testimonials

Here is what developers are saying :

• “ChatGPT just saved me hours during a client project where I was required to integrate Stripe payments, and I had zero level experience in them.” - Freelance Web developer.
• “I use it daily to generate clean types of SQL queries. You can call it my secret productivity booster, “ - Data analyst.
• “As a student, I will say that it helped me to learn recursion better than even the textbook ever did. You can call it that it's like having a CSS tutor on demand.” - Computer Science undergraduate.

Limitations that one should keep in mind

As ChatGPT is quite powerful, it is not perfect. Developers must often use this with discretion.

• Just don't blindly copy and paste - It is better to always understand the code and later debug the same.
• Context matters a lot - Without any of the full context, suggestions might miss some edge cases.
• It might also hallucinate libraries - Occasionally it might suggest a package that will never exist.

Don't forget to use it as a tool. This is not a replacement for deep learning pr even problem solving.

The future : AI + Developers = Supercoders

The rise of AI doesn't mean that developers have become obsolete. This is just quite the opposite - developers who will leverage AI will become more powerful.

Imagine :

• Conversational debugging in VS Code with AI agents is quite helpful.
• Running some real-time quality checks in your IDE.
• Because conversational debugging in VS Code with AI agents is best possible here.

Different tools like cursor, GitHub, copilot, and Replit AI are just incorporating ChatGPT-like models to just made to make IDEs smarter. We are just heading towards an era where AI is not just assistive. It is also quite collaborative.

For more details, just enroll in the AI training course in Noida and also be ready to explore and get insights on the future of AI.