Thread by @kh_author

Learn Python (with AI) 1/100

I'm very interested in developing a workflow to help students and teachers use AI in an educational setting.

So I'm teaching myself Python with the help of AI.

A little about my approach follows:

There's no doubt traditional education will be heavily disrupted by AI in the coming years.

But what's the best way to learn with it?

What are its limitations? Where will competent teachers fit in the equation?

I'm hoping to find some answers from this experiment.

To be clear I'm not just using AI to learn coding.

I'm using @yu_angela's popular (and excellent!) #100daysofcode Python course with the goal of being able to more easily create AI chatbots and apps by the end.

Here's how things went Day 1:

I'm already familiar with some Javascript from doing 100daysofcode last year so today was mostly review.

There are two primary reasons coding is difficult and can take a long time to learn: logic and syntax.

Logic is problem solving with code and w/o it.

This part is no issue for me.

But syntax is where the majority of the grunt work is.

I spent HOURS shadow coding to tutorials dialing in my syntax last year. (NOT FUN!)

But those days are done,

Because AI can do the heavy lifting when it comes to syntax.

That frees my brain up to focus on the logic and making sure the code does what I want it to do.

When it came time to produce the Day 1 project for Angela's course (the band name generator), I was able to more easily craft a creative solution based on something I was interested in, rather than going with the example in the course.

Here was my prompt in GPT-4:

Notice my instructions were just the comments from the sample code in the Replit.

Yes, you can code with comments now.

The result: My very first public app!

Get the "Future City Namer" to find out the name of your future city!

replit.com/@KgitWH21/Futu…

When the output initially didn't work out correctly, I explained to the AI what I wanted corrected AND asked it to explain what it did to fix it.

It did it perfectly.

This is where I see an opportunity for teachers in the future.

Not in explaining the OUTPUT, but nudging students to provide the AI with high quality INPUT to get better outputs.

Only with experience do you know what to ask to get the best out of it.

I plan to continue documenting my progress with this AI-assisted learning experience in this thread.

In the near future, we'll need new frameworks for teaching and learning with AI.

This is my effort to work toward establishing one.

Teachers and students, follow for more.

Learn Python (with AI) 2/100

Today was a slog of a lesson.

Numbers, math operations, data types, all stuff that I've learned before but haven't done it with Python.

But what made it fun was making the Day 2 project my own.

An explanation follows,

Today I had no idea what I wanted to build. I just knew I didn't want to follow the example of building a tip calculator.

So I asked the AI for a suggestion.

The idea to have it have something to do with beating inflation came at the last second.

The result was: Inflation Fighter!

The ass beatin' app that helps you destroy inflation by calculating how much money you need to save a month.

Try it!
replit.com/@KgitWH21/Infl…

Just like yesterday, I had the AI step me through all logic and operations in the code.

This helped me solidify the concepts I practiced during the lesson.

What's awesome about this is getting to truly make the project my own WHILE still learning the code.

But instead of taking hours to tinker with the syntax, I could make something far more useful and appealing than what was in the lesson.

This has huge implications for the future of education.

No more standardized books!

Every student could generate a custom textbook tailored to their interests. With projects and applications they enjoy.

Some might even start enjoying learning again.

Learn Python (with AI) 3/100

It's conditionals day.

This is a lesson that throws many coding beginners.

Let's see how the AI can help.

I got stuck on a coding exercise.

The AI came in clutch to remind me how to write an 'elif' statement.

Examples included.

Then I had a follow-up question about the logic operator 'and'.

AI to the rescue again.

Googling and Stackoverflowing will soon be obsolete for programmers at all levels.

Was almost done with the coding exercise when I hit an indentation error.

I asked my AI teacher for help...but forgot to include the code 😅

After it gently reminded me, it helped me solve the problem with correct code and an explanation.

Problem solved. Lesson learned.

I hit another roadblock during another challenge.

I wanted to see if the AI would give me a hint without generating the solution.

It did as I asked.

I worked on this challenge for awhile, but got stuck on the syntax (as usual).

I eventually had it help me out with the solution (w/explanation).

It even took care to present the arrows in my skin tone lol

How considerate.