Code generation and explanation

ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers

Fouad Trad

Machine Learning Engineer

Code generation

Creating source code to solve a given problem
Essential in any domain using software solutions
Understanding generated code is essential for effective use

Icon showing codes on different screens.

Code generation prompts

Problem description
Programming language
Format (script, function, class)

prompt = "Write a Python function that accepts a list of quarterly sales, and outputs the 
average sales per quarter."
print(get_response(prompt))

def calculate_average_sales(quarterly_sales):

    total_sales = sum(quarterly_sales)
    average_sales = total_sales / len(quarterly_sales)

    return average_sales

Input-output examples

Give model input-output examples to generate a program that maps them

examples = """
Input: [150000, 180000, 200000, 170000] -> Output: 175000.0
Input: [10000, 25000, 30000, 15000] -> Output: 20000.0
Input: [50000, 75000, 60000, 45000] -> Output: 57500.0
"""

prompt = f"""You are provided with input-output examples delimited by triple 
backticks for a python program that receives a list of quarterly sales data. 
Write code for this program.
```{examples}```"""
print(get_response(prompt))

Input-output examples

Based on the provided input-output examples, it seems like you want to calculate the average of 
quarterly sales data for each set of input values. 


Here's a Python program that does that:

def calculate_average_quarterly_sales(sales_data):
    total_sales = sum(sales_data)
    num_quarters = len(sales_data)
    average_sales = total_sales / num_quarters
    return average_sales


print(calculate_average_quarterly_sales([150000, 180000, 200000, 170000]))  # Output: 175000.0
print(calculate_average_quarterly_sales([10000, 25000, 30000, 15000])) # Output: 20000.0
print(calculate_average_quarterly_sales([50000, 75000, 60000, 45000]))  # Output: 57500.0

Code modification

Ask model to modify code according to requirements

script = """
quarterly_sales = [150, 180, 200, 170]
total_sales = sum(quarterly_sales)
print("Total sales: ", total_sales)
"""

prompt = f"""Modify the script delimited by triple backticks to a function that we 
can call to compute the total sales given quarterly sales
```{script}```"""
print(get_response(prompt))

Code modification

def compute_total_sales(quarterly_sales):
    total_sales = sum(quarterly_sales)
    return total_sales


quarterly_sales = [150, 180, 200, 170]
total_sales = compute_total_sales(quarterly_sales)
print("Total sales: ", total_sales)

Multiple code modifications

script = """
quarterly_sales = [150, 180, 200, 170]
total_sales = sum(quarterly_sales)
print("Total sales: ", total_sales)
"""

prompt = f"""Modify the script delimited by triple backticks as follows:
             - Let user input parameters interactively


           ```{script}```"""
print(get_response(prompt))

Multiple code modifications

script = """
quarterly_sales = [150, 180, 200, 170]
total_sales = sum(quarterly_sales)
print("Total sales: ", total_sales)
"""

prompt = f"""Modify the script delimited by triple backticks as follows:
             - Let user input parameters interactively
             - Make sure to verify inputs are positive, otherwise, display a 
             message for the user, and ask them to provide their input again.
           ```{script}```"""
print(get_response(prompt))

Multiple code modifications

quarterly_sales = []

for i in range(4):
    while True:
        sales = float(input("Enter quarterly sales for quarter {}: ".format(i+1)))
        if sales <= 0:
             print("Sales must be positive. Please try again.")
             continue
        quarterly_sales.append(sales)
        break

total_sales = sum(quarterly_sales)
print("Total sales: ", total_sales)

Code explanation

Code can be difficult to interpret
LLMs can be used to explain code

Image showing complex codes on a screen.

Code explanation requirements

code = """
def compute_average_sales_per_quarter(quarterly_sales):
    average_sales = sum(quarterly_sales) / len(quarterly_sales)
    return average_sales
"""

Specify length of explanation

prompt = f"""Explain in one sentence what the code delimited by triple backticks does
             ```{code}```"""
print(get_response(prompt))

The code calculates the average sales per quarter by summing up the values in the 
"quarterly_sales" list and dividing the sum by the number of elements in the list.

Detailed code explanation

code = """
def compute_average_sales_per_quarter(quarterly_sales):
    average_sales = sum(quarterly_sales) / len(quarterly_sales)
    return average_sales
"""

Detailed explanation with chain-of-thought prompt

prompt = f"""Explain what the code delimited by triple backticks does. 
Let's think step by step.
```{code}```"""
print(get_response(prompt))

Detailed code explanation

The code defines a function called `compute_average_sales_per_quarter` that takes in a list of `quarterly_sales` as a 
parameter.


Inside the function, it calculates the average sales by summing up all the values in the `quarterly_sales` list using 
the `sum()` function, and then dividing it by the length of the list using the `len()` function. 

The result is stored in the variable `average_sales`.


Finally, the function returns the calculated average sales value.


This code snippet can be used to calculate the average sales per quarter given a list of quarterly sales data.

Let's practice!

ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers