Developer’s Delight:
Turning "When I Get Time" Projects Into Finished Ones
When the custom “MS Access Co-Pilot” GPT for Microsoft Access VBA caught my attention, I didn’t expect it to be a game-changer. But after years of programming, I finally found the perfect assistant, thanks to custom GPTs. My long-standing “when I get time” projects are actually getting done—and it’s been an exciting journey.
The “MS Access Co-Pilot” custom GPT has genuinely breathed new life into my work with Access. It’s helped me clean up years-old code, finish old projects, and even implement features I hadn’t quite known how to approach. For example, a navigation feature I’d been meaning to polish got the full treatment: It’s now encapsulated in a class module with a factory module, so the form only has action buttons—no code behind them! This streamlined setup is a leap in programming practice, and I feel like I’ve gone up a notch on the programming ladder!
Then, in a quest to simplify tracking my food intake, I stepped into the world of Google Apps Script—again with ChatGPT as my guide. My old calorie-tracking app had become over-complicated, so I used a custom GPT to create a streamlined Google Form, tailored to my exact needs. But things really took off when I began exploring how Google Web Apps and APIs could add interactivity to the form, like dynamic calorie look-ups. The custom GPTs guided me every step, even building up the HTML, Google Apps Script code, and API references, ready to go.
The Challenge? Managing "Chatty"
But it’s not all smooth sailing. I’ve nicknamed my AI guide "Chatty"—because it sure loves to chat! Managing its output has become a skill in itself, as it tends to be a bit verbose and sometimes goes rogue, writing code I didn’t ask for. But hey, that’s part of the fun.
Expanding Horizons in Development
This experience has redefined my approach to programming. I’m not just an Access VBA expert anymore; I’m expanding into Google Apps, APIs, and beyond. With ChatGPT’s help, I’m completing projects I once shelved and learning new skills along the way. As the holidays approach, it’s a perfect time to reflect on how large language models are enhancing the developer experience. It feels like the beginning of something big…
#VBA #MicrosoftAccess #Programming #LowCode #ChatGPT #CustomGPT #GoogleAppsScript #APIs #CodeOptimization #CodingJourney #SoftwareDevelopment #ModularProgramming #TechInnovation
And this was created from my notes by a custom chat GPT designed for writing newsletters!
