I am using it to write documentation for the product that I'm building. It's an app builder and requires extensive documentation. I spit out thoughts on to ChatGPT and ask it to structure those thoughts into a structure and complete sentences. It would take me 3x time to structure it myself. But I wonder if this means I'm getting lazy?
Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
101–110 of 752 posts
Re: Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
#102The past week I used GPT for about 80% of my commit messages. I put it in a terminal command so all I type is 'commit' and that's equivalent to: git add . && git commit -m "message" && git push.
The message is generated automatically via the GPT API.
I made it public in case anyone else wants to try/use/fork it:
https://github.com/stevecondylios/gpt-generated-commit-messa...
It's very convenient for README and docs changes; small changes whose commit message really doesn't matter, saving a bit of time and mental energy and allowing you to stay on task.
Re: Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
#103I try to use it as a tutor while studying. When I run into something that I don't understand then I start asking it questions, often times asking it to "explain like I'm 5". Overall it's been really helpful. Now I don't have to rely on search engine results (which is nearly an entire page full of ads at this point). I also don't have to spend time posting questions on the Stack Exchange sites, worrying about the nitty gritty details of how I phrased the question. With ChatGPT I can ask really specific questions right as they come up, and instantly get an answer.
I have noticed that it gives me wrong answers quite often. This can be a problem if what I'm asking is too far out of my depth. My strategy for dealing with the potential false information is to 1) Be suspicious of any answer it gives me. 2) Ask it, "Are you sure about that?" (lol) 3) Ask questions that tie into things that I do know, so that it's easier to detect potential wrong answers. I think that the process of being suspicious and critical of the answers also helps me learn, since I'm forced to basically try and prove why it is right or wrong after I get an answer.
So, overall I'm using it to enhance my learning rather than, "do work" for me.
Re: Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
#104Generally rewriting emails for clarity... but I found another neat use of GPT-4. For public APIs, I ask to make sure its aware of the api. Then I ask for endpoints. I find the endpoint I want. Then I ask it to code a request to the endpoint in language X (Ruby, Python, Elixir). It then gives me a starting point to jump off from. Thirty seconds of prompt writing saves me about 20 minutes of getting setup. Yes, I have…
> Generally rewriting emails for clarity
I built a free ChatGPT chrome extension that integrates with Gmail for better UX: https://chatgptwriter.ai (300k users so far)
Re: Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
#105* writing powershell scripts
* How to write js code using d3 to animate swapping of two bars in a bar chart? (No other context given, it gave me a v good, working answer)
* what is a convertible note?
* In this it failed - can u help me setup auth to my react app using nextjs, for deployment in vercel?
* next I'm planning to ask several questions to understand state of the art in child education, there are many methods like montessori, Waldorf etc and I want it to provide a summary
* I need to keep adding this flag to make npm build to succeed, plz tell why I need it and how to solve the real problem (it explained beautifully and now I'm using yarn as a result)
Re: Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
#106I use it to help find answers more quickly than googling and scrolling through docs.
The problem is it lies so much. Makes stuff up. It is therefore only good as a hint machine, to give you solutions you can try with a sceptical eye.
Re: Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
#107I find ChatGPT most helpful as a "what's that called" tool. A lot of my queries are finding/confirming the right idiom when writing something, or getting a specific name out of a vague description (JavaScript concepts, shell commands, CSS selectors). Search engines with SEO are so reliant on keywords that it often feels like I'm suggesting answers rather than asking questions - it's so refreshing to be able to just a…
It's also helpful with explaining acronyms. Something like `What does SEO mean in "Search engines with SEO are so reliant on keywords"`.
Re: Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
#108It's helping with fast explanations for pretty much anything.
But the drawback is... it enables lazyness for the sake of "productivity", developer quality might significantly drop by spending less time doin propper research on their subject, and on top of that it's output is not necessarily correct but many will find it reliable again out of lazyness or ignorance.
Re: Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
#109Generally rewriting emails for clarity... but I found another neat use of GPT-4. For public APIs, I ask to make sure its aware of the api. Then I ask for endpoints. I find the endpoint I want. Then I ask it to code a request to the endpoint in language X (Ruby, Python, Elixir). It then gives me a starting point to jump off from. Thirty seconds of prompt writing saves me about 20 minutes of getting setup. Yes, I have…
> Generally rewriting emails for clarity I built a free ChatGPT chrome extension that integrates with Gmail for better UX: https://chatgptwriter.ai (300k users so far)
300k users is insane. Is it BYO key? Otherwise how do you handle that much load for free?
Re: Ask HN: How are you using GPT to be productive?
#110Generally rewriting emails for clarity... but I found another neat use of GPT-4. For public APIs, I ask to make sure its aware of the api. Then I ask for endpoints. I find the endpoint I want. Then I ask it to code a request to the endpoint in language X (Ruby, Python, Elixir). It then gives me a starting point to jump off from. Thirty seconds of prompt writing saves me about 20 minutes of getting setup. Yes, I have…
You reminded me: I discovered that ChatGPT had invented an API for me. Has that happened to you yet?
Since it went to the trouble of writing code for the API as well, I contacted the API developers to follow up about the topic. The code given was kind of a hand-wave anyway so I'd need to polish it up.
The developers were surprised to hear they had an API. In truth, there was no such thing.
I then found myself in one of those awkward "welp, guess I can keep my job" conversations...good for them, but for me: Go home, no API here. A disappointment with some meta-commentary sprinkled on top.