I use it at work and it clearly has strengths and weaknesses. My two use cases are initial research and generating prototype code.
I find it very helpful to ask a series of questions and see a number of examples to get a primer on what to expect with something. The main benefit over Google or going straight to the docs is I can start with my specific requirements. I then dig into the documentation to deepen my understanding. I can typically move forward with ChatGPT generating some code as a starting point.
It can be incorrect or out of date but combined with my experience I find myself being more productive with it.
A weakness I see is complex code requirements. It knows what it knows.
I note that you seem a little frustrated with vague or incorrect responses. It helps to tell ChatGPT the role it should play. It helps as well to instruct it to ask questions of you to improve the response. Personally I prefer to tell it keep its answers brief, I get less walls of text and I can narrow in on the specific answer I am after more quickly.
I find it very helpful to ask a series of questions and see a number of examples to get a primer on what to expect with something. The main benefit over Google or going straight to the docs is I can start with my specific requirements. I then dig into the documentation to deepen my understanding. I can typically move forward with ChatGPT generating some code as a starting point.
It can be incorrect or out of date but combined with my experience I find myself being more productive with it.
A weakness I see is complex code requirements. It knows what it knows.
I note that you seem a little frustrated with vague or incorrect responses. It helps to tell ChatGPT the role it should play. It helps as well to instruct it to ask questions of you to improve the response. Personally I prefer to tell it keep its answers brief, I get less walls of text and I can narrow in on the specific answer I am after more quickly.