20230402 : my new tutor

I work with Google sheets a lot. There was a particular thing I wanted to do:

 I wanted to read a sheet periodically , compare 2 values from cells and if a particular condition was met, to get an email notification that the condition was met. 

I also wanted to change one of the values periodically .

I didn't know if this was even possible.

I asked Google if I can do something like this. I spent almost the whole of one evening even to get to that understanding if this was possible. After an evening, and seeing several websites that Google sent me to, I was kinda sure but not yet confident that it could be done.

Today I asked the same question to chatGPT.

In a matter of seconds, it told me yes it can be done with an ability called time triggers in app scripts in Google sheets. I didn't even know that something like app scripts existed.

I asked it what was needed to work with app scripts and realised it is javascript based. 

I have never coded in JavaScript and while I have managed a few projects in java, I have not coded in it. In fact, come to think about it, the last time I did serious coding was in early 2000s - 2 decades back. However, I am able to understand code as I have done design/ logic many times but not coded anything myself.

So, I started with "show me how to write a time based trigger in JavaScript for Google sheets app scripts"

I realised the exact thing it showed won't work for me. 

Next i said "show me all the possible parameters and syntax"

Note:- this time I didn't have to specify javascript, Google sheets, app scripts etc. It just knew based on earlier dialogues, what I was talking about.

I tried again. It didn't work. Then I realised the time trigger fires based on who knows what time.

So it was "i want it to execute in India" - so it told me what to do for it.

I didn't know how to read from the sheet, i didn't know how to write, etc, etc.

Few more dialogues and I knew them.

I then realised it has to run without the file being open. It told me what to do.

So in 1½ hours i had a test/ strawman for being able to take a Google sheet when it is not open, change values based on realtime inputs, do it periodically in indian time zone and send me an email if some condition was met.

1½ hours!

Of course, I still have to work on implementing it for something else and it will take time to do.

But I did all this from knowing nothing, whether it was even possible and it took me 1½ hours to achieve it. 

That is with one slow hand, which is not what used to be my strong hand and 1 finger typing.

When I was at my best , something like this would have taken me days to get to this point with some new computer programming language.

During the whole interaction with chatGPT, it was not a program for me, but a very capable and highly intelligent tutor who was guiding me through it from start to finish. Except, this tutor was remote and I couldn't see or hear this person.

Those 2 have already been done and in mainstream media (check video of weather updates given by Sana in India today. Sana is their fully computer generated person and their current presenter for weather updates).

I am full of thoughts and emotions after this interaction/ experience. I have used it many times earlier - but nothing serious like today. In fact, writing this note has taken me more than 1½ hours already!

Is it a threat to jobs - definitely! 

Is it useful for productivity - immensely! 

Is it harmful/ threat to us - maybe. 

Is it avoidable - impossible. 

I reckon , everybody who knows about it (which is probably 0.001% of the global population) should use it, understand it and figure out what all it can be used for to help instead of ignoring it...

 

I definitely foresee a lot more sessions coming for me with my new tutor...