ChatGPT Changes Coding Forever

Meet my new junior developer. Here is a sample of its work.

Look at this! Correct code, with a multi-paragraph explanation! And this is 'only' ChatGPT 3.5, not the latest version, not even the new Copilot X that will be right inside of my development environment, Visual Studio.

This isn't mind-blowing code. But still, you have to have some knowledge of c#, Blazor, EditForm, Bootstrap, HTML etc. It's basically what I call grunt-work code. The type of thing you might pass off to a junior developer or someone off-shore. I don't expect ChatGPT to handle complicated application logic or in-depth algorithms, yet, but there is a lot of rote grunt-work in a typical application that takes up a lot of time.

Nothing I couldn't do myself, but it takes some time to hammer it in, even with cut/paste. This result was returned to me in seconds, all I had to do was figure out how to word the request. I may make some changes to this code as I go, but the time saved was well worth it.

And oh yeah, it was free. I didn't have to search for anyone with the right set of skills and availability. And while this is a Blazor platform sample, I'll bet you can also get good results if you are working in React, Flutter, or whatever platform you are working with.

This Changes Everything

I don't want to be a big part of the ChatGPT hype cycle, but this is real. And it is going to have huge implications in the economics of software development.

If you are a junior developer, you are going to need to quickly get to a level above what these types of tools can do, or you won't be needed.

And if you are selling off-shore development, with inexpensive coders who handle grunt-work coding, it's over. ChatGPT is my new assistant developer.