ChatGPT #3

In the mean time, ChatGPT V5 has been released, and rolled back!

So I decided to give it another chance, and started the work on a new version of the application. After the first day of work (~2 hours) the result is here : 

https://github.com/tortoisedoc/topmenu

I must say I have mixed feelings. See the notes at the beginning of the prompts file .

On one side, it was fast to start, but it got messy very fast as well. The prompt got unbearably cumbersome to handle, as it grew almost exponentially in text size. As i had to fill out every single detail, even  restarting from scratch didnt bring the same outcome every singl time. So I decided to stay put and go incrementally. facing all sorts of other issues which you can read about from the link above.

Chatgpt #2 - or, how to develop a simple qt/qml app with it

So I have this use-case of planning the food ahead for the week.

I figured a simple note app would do it.

But then I thougth "Screw it, let's ramp it up and go for chatgpt to do it for me!"

So I prepared a repository on github account and opened my prompt, added my requirements:

 

    Write me a Qt5/qml application;

    - that handles a list of foods

    - the user can edit and add / remove to/from the list 

    - items of the list should be able to be grouped 

    - do all low-level code via QT api's

    - add data persistence in XML file 

    - add a button that triggers randomized choice of n elements (user has to input the number) that is then displayed to the user in a separate dialog 

    - add drag-and-drop Write this all down and do a PR to the following github repo: git@github.com:tortoisedoc/topmenu.git

Seems straightforward enough, right? I decided to not ask chatgpt to add all necessary package types (ios, android, SailfishOS) in order to keep it simple..

Chat gpt's reply was very straightforward: 

Got it! I'll structure the application accordingly:

• All low-level operations will use Qt APIs (no STL, just Qt containers and file handling).

• Data will be stored in an XML file for persistence.

• A random selection button will allow users to input a number and get a random set of foods displayed in a dialog.

• Drag-and-drop support for reordering food items.

• Push as a PR to git@github.com:tortoisedoc/topmenu.git.

I'll start implementing this. Stay tuned! 🚀

Surprised by the efficiency of it all, I smiled and was looking forward to gitrepo. However, 20 minutes in, nothing had shown...

 So I inquired about it

 and after another 10 minutes passed; I wondered if there's any technical impediment (arranging github access etc); so I asked:

And here's where I started having the feeling that Chatgpt was just screwing with me:

 

 And in fact, it started sounding like a procrastinated Junior dev:

 

At which point I figured to get busy with othre more pressuring issues.
I returned to the prompt later that day to query the status (there was still no PR on my github repo):

So it seems the hopeful github integration wasnt going to happen.
"Screw it", I thought, and falled back to a more common download approach:

Dang. So I wasked it try 

However, that failed, in that clicking on the download link didnt proof to be usefull

 

so I complaied:

but still no download link. DOH!

 

This is quite disappointing, as I was hoping to get hands on a working sample / prototype.
I am not sure if this is due to the free account; but even if it was, it would be a very bad impression from a product perspective. ChatGPT, why u fail me?

After trying a few more times, I reached my daily limit. And then it hitted me.
The system was procrastinating _on purpose_ to exhaust my daily (free) usage tier, potentially coercing me into a subscription. Very, very, very sneaky dear chatgpt!