Limiting it works well for me. Strict parameters.
Discussion
It does really well when I'm telling it to refactor existing code. But it's nearly unusable when you ask it to generate freeform code.
So now I made a prompt that forces me to write up a first draft myself, then work with the AI to refactor.
I saw someone say something about how AI is great to get you started, but has diminishing returns. I'm going to try and see if not using AI much in the beginning will give it more value in the long run.
Interesting. So you use it to optimize as opposed to give you a starting point
Yeah basically. And instead of having it vomit code when it has nothing to go off, I've taught it Composite Design, which is a software design framework from the 70s, and it just plans out the program and its functions instead.