ChatGPT Tips

Watch these great videos

Here are a few tips that have helped me

  • Paste in working code and have ChatGPT create unit tests for the code
  • Ask ChatGPT to comment or explain code I paste in i.e. code I find online but can’t understand
  • Ask for sample code. This works better if I brainstorm and/or write the code myself then check ChatGPT’s answer. I wrote code to find a nested object in an array, then I asked ChatGPT and learned how to better my code (return a boolean).
  • Ask ChatGPT to rename variables. This has been hit or miss in terms of effectiveness. But I always gain ideas from the effective and ineffective renaming. 
  • Have ChatGPT remove comments. This is simple manual work that is done easily and perfectly by ChatGPT. 
  • Converting from React class to React hooks does not work that well but gave me ideas and helped me review the old school componentDidUpdate function. 
  • This extension is a nice way of supplementing Google searches https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/chatgpt-chrome-extension/cdjifpfganmhoojfclednjdnnpooaojb 
  • I like to ask ChatGPT for explanations (i.e. eli5 “explain like I am 5 years old”), examples, and sources. 

Overall I am enjoying ChatGPT for brainstorming, searching, and getting explanations. It is not perfect by any means but it is a great tool in my toolbox.

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Preparing for the technical interview:

https://bryanttunbutr.wordpress.com/tag/data-structures/

https://bryanttunbutr.wordpress.com/2018/10/02/memorize-with-understanding/

Review schedule for long term benefits

https://bryanttunbutr.wordpress.com/2022/01/17/coding-interview-patterns/

Lynda & Team Tree House

I started learning from these awesome resources. They were free because of my local library 🙂

With Lynda (now called LinkedIn Learning) I only took one course on Object Oriented Design and it was very clear and concise.

I am impressed with Team Tree House because it is interactive like Codecademy and in depth as well. They also teach how to use documentation and have small projects along the way.

Check out your local library and see if you can get these resources for free 🙂

 

Design Patterns Resources

Here are a few links that have helped me gain exposure to design patterns:

I recently started learning from kudvenkat and he is a great teacher who provides clear, simple, and detailed explanations and examples. I am sure his series Design Patterns Videos are great as well.

Learning by repetition and paraphrasing

I have been learning material by using a combination of repetition and my variation of The Feynman Technique.

My strategy is to repeat the material in chunks, i.e. section 1, then section 1 and 2, then sections 1 through 3, sections 1 through 4, etc.

I try to paraphrase every sentence. Sometimes it’s I just reverse the sentences, sometimes I change them into a question and answer, and sometimes I just use synonyms for a word or for multiple words in the sentence.

I think this has been working for me because of the sheer number of repetitions, but also because I am actively engaging with the material, and I am jamming the information into my working memory. Furthermore, I am exposing myself to the material in many different ways because I probably paraphrase things slight differently each time.

I think if I get comfortable with the earlier sections, I might start reviewing from the later sections. For instance, if there are 10 sections, I might review section 10, then section 9 through 10, then 8 through 10, etc.

I think I can certain material into long term memory by using flash card software. Also for things that just have to be memorized, I can create pictures, patterns, stories, rhymes, or use memory techniques such as The Link Method.