programming Archives - Page 6 of 20 - Home For Fiction

programming

Let’s Make a JavaScript App with ChatGPT

April 3, 2023

You might remember a recent post on asking ChatGPT about the Gothic. I there mentioned how ChatGPT is a tool and, like every tool, its successful use depends on the user and scope. I also mentioned how, in my opinion, the most intriguing application of ChatGPT is as a programming helper. Well, that’s what I decided to try in this post: Let’s make a JavaScript app with ChatGPT!

Obviously, starting this mini project I had to establish certain methodological factors. That is, I had to decide on how to do certain things.

The main one was what the app would be about. For simplicity’s sake – both in terms of the confines of the post and the amount of effort I was willing to put in programmatically – I decided that the JavaScript app ChatGPT would make had to be a simple one. No need to create any full-fledged adventure game here.

I also had to decide whether I would only get help for this JavaScript app from ChatGPT, e.g. for certain functions, or I’d ask it to generate the code in its entirety. I quickly realized that, even if I’d have to do at least some of the mixing-and-matching, for the purposes of this experiment I should let ChatGPT to do most of the work.

As for what program to make, I thought the best idea would be to make something I’ve already made myself, for comparison. I opted for my Poem Shuffler. The results were very intriguing, to say the least!

JavaScript App ChatGPT — The image superimposed on the stock programming image represents a ZX Spectrum +2 – my very first computer. Younger audiences may not understand this is a computer, because of the tape recorder – hang on; do younger audiences know what **that** is? – which was used to read/write data. We’ve come a long, long way since 48k games.

(more…)

The Danger of Partial Knowledge: My ChatGPT Encounter

March 13, 2023

Philosophy, Society

ignorance, knowledge, programming, society, technology

The old piece of wisdom might be right: It’s better to know nothing about something, rather than know a little. Of course, referring to partial knowledge is a sort of misnomer. Philosophically speaking, virtually all knowledge is partial – cogito ergo sum and all that. But socially speaking, the gradations are more intriguing.

The reason? Because of our old friend, the Dunning-Kruger effect. When it comes to partial knowledge – knowing a little of something – there is a peculiar paradox at play: When we know a little, we think we know a lot; when we know more (the threshold is subjective), we know that we only know a little.

As I said above, though there are philosophical dimensions in this topic, the focus of this post will be on society. I have always been interested in ignorance and the illusion of knowledge (as long-term readers of the blog have realized), but recently I had an experience that intrigued me with its repercussions: I tried asking the famous ChatGPT AI model questions on a topic I know ~~very well~~ enough to know I don’t know anything: the Gothic. The responses I got were very intriguing for our context of partial knowledge.

Partial Knowledge - woman reading — The only way out of the darkness of ignorance is through personal, active effort, paired with humility: “I only know that I know nothing”

(more…)

Conceptualizer: a Story Planning Program

January 23, 2023

Programming, Writing

fiction, javascript, literature, programming, writing

There are fiction authors who need to plan every, single, detail in advance – they’re called “plotters”. Then there are writers who write by their seat of their pants – hence they’re called “pantsers”. In reality, most authors fall somewhere in-between. The truth is, we all need some degree of planning for most works (except perhaps stream-of-consciousness or heavily experimental). And so, we could all benefit from a story planning program.

As with everything I make – programs, books, or blog posts – the intended audience of Conceptualizer, my story planning program, was first and foremost myself. That is, I started to make a story planner because I felt I could benefit from one. I’m certainly not a plotter (though not a pantser either), but I like to keep some sort of notes regarding what will happen when.

And so, perhaps ironically, this sort of selfishness can be very useful to you, too! Let’s take a look at Conceptualizer, what it does and how it works, and at the end of this post I’ll include a link for you so that you can try it.

(more…)