{"id":1829,"date":"2023-12-22T17:44:50","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T22:44:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aiforfolks.com\/?p=1829"},"modified":"2023-12-22T17:46:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T22:46:14","slug":"chatgpt-for-software-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aiforfolks.com\/chatgpt-for-software-development\/","title":{"rendered":"How I Used ChatGPT to Develop a Web App Without Coding Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ChatGPT is a powerful tool for content generation, as many know. But it can also generate code in a variety of programming languages. I set out to perform an experiment: to see if I, a non-programmer, was able to use ChatGPT as my software developer to develop a basic web application for me. I wanted ChatGPT to generate all the code, the logo, the name of the website, everything. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Was ChatGPT up to the task? Yes, it generated a fully functioning web application for me, which you can check out here: HorizonTimer<\/a>. The application is simple: a timer website with various clock and timer options. But it works, both on desktop and mobile!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole process took me about 8-10 hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, I’ll explain how I did it, my experiences, and provide some tips on how you can use ChatGPT as your personal software developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Using ChatGPT As Your Personal Software Developer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

If you’re going to attempt to use ChatGPT to develop web apps, games, etc., you definitely want to use GPT-4 with the plus subscription, not GPT-3.5. A Plus subscription costs $20, but is definitely worth trying, at least for a month or two to see what it can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GPT-4 is much more capable than GPT-3.5, and will produce much better code. If you can’t swing the $20, you can try using Bing Chat AI on Creative mode, which is GPT4 under the hood. But it doesn’t seem to work as well as straight GPT-4 to me, and Bing’s personality isn’t as good as ChatGPT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also used a CustomGPT called Grimoire<\/a>, which is designed around programming. It has prompts to cut down on commentary and have ChatGPT focus on producing code blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don’t know how much of a difference it made, but it certainly didn’t hurt!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My Background As It Relates to Software and Web Applications<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I run several Wordpress content websites that are hosted online, such as this one you’re reading right now. I am not a software developer and cannot code, though occasionally I have had to copy a php function or some html or javascript to fix something that has gone wrong on a website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I am at least familiar with the concept of functions, code blocks, etc. But I am unable to write<\/em> any genuine code beyond “Hello World”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was curious as to how well ChatGPT could handle the complete software development process. I have read many programmers say that ChatGPT and AI-assisted software platforms like Github Copilot<\/a> and Cursor AI<\/a> have made them much more efficient. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I previously put together an article on how to use ChatGPT for web scraping<\/a>, so I knew it was capable of generating usable code. But I wasn’t sure if it could build an entire application for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to find out: could these systems be used by non programmers, too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, I was quite happy with the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using ChatGPT to Develop a Web Application<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here is the process I used to shepherd ChatGPT through the development process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Download and Employ the Grimoire CustomGPT<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned above, I used Grimoire coding wizard as a CustomGPT to help me along. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Explain the concept and basic features of the application<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I knew I wanted to make a basic timer website, so I outlined the functions I was looking for in the timer. I knew I wanted to use Replit<\/a> as my programming environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked what programming languages would be the best choice for the task, and ChatGPT recommended html, css, and javascript. That’s what we went with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Start With Feature #1 and Slowly Build Out New Features<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From there, ChatGPT began creating code blocks. We started with just a simple timer displaying the current time and date. ChatGPT provided me with the code blocks to place in the various files, and I started building the app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s what a code block looks like in ChatGPT. You can click the copy code button at the top right, and paste the whole thing into Replit in the appropriate file:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ChatGPT Grimoire Code Block<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The program consisted of only three files:<\/p>\n\n\n\n