Newsflash: ChatGPT Kills The CLI!

Jock Mirow, Director of Live Streaming at Radiant Technologies, touches on ChatGPT

Thousands don’t morn the death of black-hole programming.

So, I’m sitting there staring at a blinking cursor on a black square, trying to remember some tortuous syntax to do something really simple, like move a bunch of files from one sub-directory to another. Is it “change directory, then copy, then change directory, then asterisk forward-slash, then…?” My mind begins to glaze with the haze of mesmerizing code, and I begin to wonder, “Why, oh, why can’t I just tell this computer what I want and let it figure out the best way to do it?” Why must I clone the git repo? Why must I provision the virtual server? Why must I search endless forums for code scenarios that may or may not have worked on a different version of Python in 2017 on an alternative OS? And then I realized, I don’t have to do that anymore.

That’s all history because of a chatbot.

If you’ve ever worked with FFMPEG, you know the pain. Once configured, it’s one of the most useful video tools in the universe that only CLI guys know about. The key here is “once configured.” It’s a command line nightmare. So I open ChatGPT and ask for the FFMPEG commands to take a bunch of video files and re-encode them to some very obscure filetypes and specifications. ChatGPT spits out the perfect code in a little box with a “copy” button. I realized I just watched the death of an entire industry / workforce before my very eyes. Ding dong, the code guy is dead. ChatGPT stabbed him with a fork. He’s done.

Consider one of the most obtuse creation environments ever created by man – AWS. It’s got rules, regulations, vernacular, slang, foibles…but at the end of the day it produces very valuable products for universal consumption. Products which are worth the extended effort of learning how to work in it’s world – it even has it’s own classes, learning centers, help groups and gun-for-hire fixers. NOW paste ChatGPT on the front end of that and bang, bang, bang…all those folks are toast.

The more I thought about this scenario, the more plausible it became. There was only one consultant that could give me the straight skinny on this – ChatGPT. Here’s what it has to say:

“As a language model with natural language processing capabilities, ChatGPT offers a user-friendly alternative to standard command line coding. With ChatGPT, users can input commands and receive immediate feedback in plain language, rather than having to memorize complex syntax and type out commands character by character. This allows for a more intuitive and efficient user experience, particularly for those who are new to coding or who don’t have extensive technical expertise.

Additionally, ChatGPT can offer context-specific assistance, providing users with relevant information and examples based on their specific needs and questions. This can help to eliminate the trial and error approach that is often necessary with traditional command line coding, saving users time and frustration. Furthermore, ChatGPT’s ability to interpret natural language queries means that users can ask questions in a way that makes sense to them, rather than having to conform to a rigid programming language.

Overall, the functionality of ChatGPT has the potential to revolutionize the way that users interact with code, particularly for those who are not professional developers. By providing a more accessible and intuitive interface for coding, ChatGPT could help to democratize programming, allowing a wider range of people to create and innovate using code.”

Just as WordPress allowed everyone to have a website and Social Media allowed everyone a content platform – ChatGPT has the potential to turn everyone with a business concept into a code jockey. It’s gonna be an interesting future after all.

Newsflash: ChatGPT Kills The CLI!

Jock Mirow, Director of Live Streaming at Radiant Technologies, touches on ChatGPT

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