Using ChatGPT in My Learning: The Good, the Bad, and the Helpful

I didn’t immediately hop on the ChatGPT bandwagon, but once I began using it for my learning, it quickly became one of my favorite tools list. Personally, I found it to be most helpful when learning new topics and skills. I found it really helpful when I had to learn several new topics all at once during my internship and when working on my personal projects. It made learning new tech stuff like the Go programming language, Docker, AWS, and many others a lot easier. Instead of spending hours searching for answers, I could just ask ChatGPT, and it would give me clear explanations and examples.

One of the best things about using ChatGPT over traditional search engines is its ability to maintain context during a conversation. Unlike Googling, where each search starts from scratch, ChatGPT remembers what we’ve talked about, allowing me to ask follow-up questions and dive deeper into the subject without having to re-explain or lose track of the discussion. This context-awareness is incredibly valuable when learning new topics.

Suppose you want to learn Go programming language. You start by asking ChatGPT, “How do I create a simple function in Go?” ChatGPT would explain that in Go, a function is defined using the func keyword, followed by the function name, parameters in parentheses, and then the return type. An example provided might look like this:

func greet(name string) string {
    return "Hello, " + name
}

Given that ChatGPT maintains context, your next question could naturally be, “How do I call this function?” Understanding that your question still pertains to Go functions and building upon the previous example, ChatGPT can directly answer:

func main() {
    message := greet("Bema")
    fmt.Println(message)
}

This interaction an example of context maintenance. Instead of starting from scratch with each query, you build on the existing conversation, allowing for a deeper exploration of the topic. For instance, if you then wonder about functions with multiple parameters, you can simply ask, “What if I want to add a last name parameter?” and so on. 

func greet(firstName, lastName string) string {
    return "Hello, " + firstName + " " + lastName
}

However, it’s important to remember that ChatGPT’s knowledge is not always up-to-date, and the context it provides, while impressive, can sometimes miss the mark on the very latest developments or best practices. This means that while ChatGPT is an excellent starting point and a powerful tool for learning, it should be complemented with consulting official documentation, discussing with peers, and other resources to ensure the information is current and correct. For instance, when I was trying to learn the AWS SDK for Go, I wanted to use the latest version, which ChatGPT did not have full access to yet. This meant that while I could ask some questions, I needed to consult the original documentation to make sure everything was up to date.

To sum it all up, while ChatGPT is an incredible tool that can make learning faster and more efficient, at the end of the day, it’s just another tool. Of course, we can’t deny the power of these AI tools, and on those days when I feel a bit threatened by the abilities of ChatGPT, I query something in Kyrgyz language, and that makes me feel better, haha. Still, I believe our critical thinking, creativity, and our own knowledge are at the center of it all.

P.S. Since the Kyrgyz language, my native language, is not widespread and there is not much information in Kyrgyz on the internet, ChatGPT is not as “smart” in Kyrgyz.