For the longest time, I’ve been thinking of spending some time to get back into programming, whether it’s for professional purposes, or just as a topic of general interest. So I’ve decided that learning Python with ChatGPT would be an interesting project to explore.
Some of the reasons I went through while deciding this included:
More flexibility for Rubycoded: Being able to develop custom projects for clients would greatly help Jenxi and I to offer more services on our Rubycoded business. Currently most of the development is based on WordPress and features are added via the comprehensive WordPress libraries.
A good time to upskill: With programming being in such high demand recently, it feels like basic programming is almost becoming a core skill that everybody should have, much like basic mathematics. Of course, at this point, not everybody would be expected to have basic programming skills, but it wouldn’t hurt. At some point, I’d like to be able to teach my son the basics of programming too.
Banish some old demons: I have a degree in Computer Science and while I’m not new to programming and have done some programming in C++, Java, and C#, I wouldn’t say I have enough real-world experience, and I didn’t do well as a C++ programmer, but I’d like to give the subject of programming another go, and not let experiences of the past limit the future.
On this project
There were a few reasons why I wanted this project to be about learning Python with the assistance of ChatGPT.
Python: The irony is that our company is called Rubycoded, but I’ll get past that. While I always felt that it was a 50-50 choice choose between Ruby and Python, the recent boom of interest in AI means that skills in Python would be more in demand, at least based on my estimation. Microsoft just announced integration of Python with Excel a week ago, so the wind is definitely blowing is that direction.
ChatGPT: One of the common issues people (and I myself) have when dealing with programming matters is getting the help needed. While you can search for solutions StackOverflow, I wanted this project to have a more up to date feel on things, and also improve my skills with prompt engineering. So it felt like killing two birds with one stone. I’d also like to try learning with an AI tutor by my side. Issues I foresee that would be crop up and I’d need help with would be issues setting up the environment, and perhaps needing detailed explanation on certain parts of the code. The way I see it, ChatGPT would really excel at this.
My goal for this project would be:
- Basic competency with Python programming
- Familiarity with Git and GitHub
- A functioning Python web project.
- Explore the use case and benefits of having ChatGPT be my AI tutor.
- Use this project to participate in #LearnInPublic and #BuildInPublic which I feel are pretty good movements.
Fingers crossed!