Summary and Setup
This lesson introduces AI chatbots as an assistant for learning to code in R. Using plotting as a motivating example, it touches on functions and loops but does not aim to be a comprehensive introduction to programming. Rather, the goal is to get participants started running code, asking an AI chatbot for help, and critically evaluating the responses. After completing this lesson, participants should be ready to decide when and how they want to use generative AI tools as they continue to develop their own coding ability.
After completing this lesson, learners will be able to:
- Write prompts following good practice
- Validate the output of an LLM
- Analyse how simple programs work using an LLM
- Code and test short programs
- Identify approaches and resources to learn programming skills
- Develop a strategy to continue learning
Prerequisites
This lesson is aimed at people with little or no prior experience of programming / research software. It assumes some foundational knowledge of probability and computers.
Visit the Learning Programming with GenAI workshop overview to follow setup instructions for this lesson.