Before the development and widespread use of models like ChatGPT, people relied on traditional methods for communication, information retrieval, and problem-solving. Here are some aspects of life before ChatGPT
Manual Documentation and Reference Materials: Developers heavily depended on manual documentation, textbooks, reference manuals, and printed materials to understand programming languages, frameworks, libraries, and APIs. Online documentation was available, but it wasn't as comprehensive or easily searchable as it is today.
Human Assistance and Collaboration: Problem-solving often involved seeking help from colleagues, mentors, or online forums. Collaboration was crucial, and developers spent significant time engaging with the community to share knowledge and get assistance.
Code Editors and IDEs: Developers used code editors and Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) for writing, editing, and debugging code. These tools had features to assist with syntax highlighting, code completion, and debugging, but they lacked the advanced language understanding capabilities seen in models like ChatGPT.
Manual Code Writing: Writing code was a manual process, and developers had to rely on their knowledge of syntax, algorithms, and best practices. There were no AI-powered tools to generate or assist with code snippets.
Limited Code Search: Code search engines were available, but they were less sophisticated than today's search capabilities. Finding specific code examples or solutions to problems required more manual effort.
Offline Learning: Learning new programming languages or frameworks involved reading books, attending in-person classes, and relying on physical learning resources. Online learning platforms and interactive tutorials were not as prevalent.
Limited Accessibility to Online Resources: Internet access was not as widespread or fast as it is today. Developers had to contend with slower connection speeds and sometimes limited access to online resources.
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Top comments (1)
You just figured it out, kind of like what everyone does now ;-). And believe it or not, there was a time when it was considered by many that using Google was cheating :-D and to a lesser degree using StackOverflow. ChatGPT is just another tool in the toolbox. Though it does to me, seem to be wrong a lot more often than anything I usually find with Google or StackOverflow.