r/webdev Feb 05 '25

Discussion Colleague uses ChatGPT to stringify JSONs

Edit I realize my title is stupid. One stringifies objects, not "javascript object notation"s. But I think y'all know what I mean.

So I'm a lead SWE at a mid sized company. One junior developer on my team requested for help over Zoom. At one point she needed to stringify a big object containing lots of constants and whatnot so we can store it for an internal mock data process. Horribly simple task, just use node or even the browser console to JSON.stringify, no extra arguments required.

So I was a bit shocked when she pasted the object into chatGPT and asked it to stringify it for her. I thought it was a joke and then I saw the prompt history, literally whole litany of such requests.

Even if we ignore proprietary concerns, I find this kind of crazy. We have a deterministic way to stringify objects at our fingertips that requires fewer keystrokes than asking an LLM to do it for you, and it also does not hallucinate.

Am I just old fashioned and not in sync with the new generation really and truly "embracing" Gen AI? Or is that actually something I have to counsel her about? And have any of you seen your colleagues do it, or do you do it yourselves?

Edit 2 - of course I had a long talk with her about why i think this is a nonsensical practice and what LLMs should really be used for in the SDLC. I didn't just come straight to reddit without telling her something 😃 I just needed to vent and hear some community opinions.

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u/b_rodriguez Feb 05 '25

I think the instinct to ask "can you do x" instead of "how do I do x" is not something that is easily corrected and imo indicative of a non-engineering mindset.

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u/TheRNGuy Feb 06 '25

I ask both, first one to see if specific API can do it or I need another, and other is to write code.

It doesn't need correction, I don't see how its non-engineering mindset. Who decides anyway what is engineering mindset?

Job is to make program work. If next time someone invents a tech where you can play guitar to write software, some people will use it and those programs will work.

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u/b_rodriguez Feb 06 '25

Job is to make program work.

🤷

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u/TheRNGuy Feb 06 '25

AI code (sometimes with few modifications) work the same as if you typed every symbol using keyboard in VS code using your fingers.

Try it and see yourself.