Three ways I'm using chatGPT to learn JavaScript faster

“The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.”

~ Edsger W. Dijkstra

Last month, as I was scrolling through TikTok, I came across chatGPT as the new AI tool that will erupt in many industries including web development.

I became curious at this point to take a look.

I started giving it basic text prompts at first to see the type of responses it would generate. And to my greatest surprise, the responses it generated were mind-blowing.

By then I was going through freeCodeCamp's basic algorithms challenges. I gave it simple JavaScript prompts and not only did it give me clear and concise explanations, but it also gave me coding examples. I was blown away. That was my first time seeing its output code on the chat.

Since then I have been figuring out various ways for it to help me understand JavaScript concepts.

The following are the three ways I'm using it so far:

I use it to explain to me specific JavaScript concepts.

Before chatGPT, I would use google or YouTube. I would have to search through the articles that come up in google and click the response that's exactly what I am asking or very close. Even then, I would have to skim through the article to get to the point quickly. It's almost the same for YouTube.

ChatGPT goes straight to the point and explains the prompt I give it. And the cool thing is that it will rephrase the prompt, thereby putting it better or yet still asking me to clarify what I mean.

Simplify unclear or complicated explanations

Whether I'm following a YouTube tutorial or reading an article/book, I usually come across something that the author or instructor did not explain very well, at least to my understanding.

I will type out the code in chatGPT and ask it to explain what's going on in the code in a simple way. It will explain the code to me line-by-line and even give me some other examples to reinforce my understanding.

Debug my code

I spend less time trying to figure out where I'm going wrong. I simply copy my code in the chat and ask it to debug the code. It will not only find the bug and point out where I went wrong, but it will also rewrite it for me.

In summary, it's my personal assistant. I ask it any question (no matter how dumb it is), and it will always give me the answer without getting mad—unlike a person.

All the above is true for me and I like it, but I also acknowledge that it has limitations. It can generate completely useless responses.

I use it with caution and I always try to check other sources if I think it's missing its way with a response.

Thanks for reading.

See you soon

~Umaru.