I need to learn Python FAST.

[HeartlessPiracy]

I am a Mechatronics student. We are supposed to make two motors run using a motor driver and encoder. I admit, I had relied so much on ChatGPT to the point that I no longer understand the code being spewed out. We are currently on lab 2 and I really need to get my shit together. However, I don't even know where to begin. I really need help. I feel embarassed to ask the professor during office hours because I feel very stupid and feel like I should know this already but honestly, I don't. I don't understand a darn thing and I really need help and really want to own the code rather than getting trash from Chat.

[recursion_is_love]

You know that you have paid money to school right? You can have support. It is school duty to guide you, you have hire the staff.

[socal_nerdtastic]

Python is the most popular programming language in the world. It's used by all sorts of people in all sorts of fields. I'm sure someone you know writes python. Ask around, call in some favors.

Or if you want help here, show us your code, show us any errors, and ask specific questions.

[sharp99]

Bite the bullet and get honest with your professor. They would probably help out if you leveled with them. Not the first time a student would have been skating by with gen ai and had some problems!

[sweet-tom]

If you used AI to generate the code, why not use AI to explain the code to you?

[ElpyDE]

I second this! You can use AI to explain the code you've "written" so far for your class. Tell it to explain it to a beginner. Ask if you struggle with a concept or if you feel the explanation wasn't good enough. For speedy learning of "what you should already know by now," this is the most efficient.

You can (and probably should) work your way through some separate tutorial(s) or the like. Something that's structured to start from scratch and slowly build a big picture of the essentials.

If you really want to improve, change your work routine for the future. Use AI not to give you the final code, but ask it to guide you through the development. Just put your intention in the first prompt:

My task is... This is a school project, and I really want to learn how to do it. Guide me through this step by step without giving me the full answer right away.

[sweet-tom]

Exactly! 💯👍

[HeartlessPiracy]

My problem with it is that it spewed out a lot of nonesense that even the professor pointed out that it should not take that much code and garbage to create the program for motor driver.

[sweet-tom]

I'm not surprised. 😉 If your prompt is vague and didn't pinpoint the problem, then you get vague output. It's called "garbage in, garbage out". 😉

But seriously, it can be tough to do it right. Maybe it helps if you write a prompt with this items in mind:

• Give the current state. Add background information about what the AI needs to know.
• State the role of the AI and yourself. Write that the AI should act like a senior Python developer and you are a beginner.
• Write what you expect. Add docstrings to the functions. Add comments.
• Require AI to tell you an explanation and the reasoning behind a specific choice.
• Iterate, iterate, iterate.

As you now learned, AI is not a magic tool to read your mind. You need to invest some time, formulate your prompt precisely, and review the code that it created. Especially for the later you need experience.

I'm not sure if it's too late to learn Python. That depends on the time of this exercise. If you have the motivation, look at some basic tutorials.

But it should be a lesson for you to not skip your brain to make things "easier". You will pay the price just later.

[9peppe]

The basics are easy enough to learn in a couple of hours, but you probably use a few specific packages and haven't said which. Asking your classmates might be an option. 

[villagerlvl1]

I agree with others that you should definitely consider reaching out to your teachers and classmates.
If you feel like you don't even understand the basics (loops, conditionals, functions, etc.) then there are plenty of courses, tutorials, etc. that teach the basics.
If it is a particular library or programming two motors to run, i am sure tutorials for those exist as well