Chatgpt and Programming

[nine_tails]

I'm finding I'm using this constantly now for php/jquery coding. I want something made for the website. I give chatgpt a brief and it does it, but best of all, it's learnt how my site and other parts of the code are, partly because it's made enough of them, that now when I want something added, it already knows simply things like the variable names etc.

One thing I do notice is the difference between the 2 versions I'm getting as a free user. I guess I get a dumbed down version after so many questions. It kind of feels like having a technician in the phone that ends their shift and then a dummy takes over, and then a few hours later when I get the better version back, it's noticeably better.

Is the paid for version the same as the free good version I get, or is it even better?

Is chatgpt the best for coding questions (only ever php, mysql and query related) or would another service be better?

You can try out Cursor - it has a month of free trial.

Sticking a query on chatgpt AI - is not the most efficient way, as it can't see your code. Tools such as cursor can add your entire code repository (or chunks most likely) and make suggestions. Currently, there is a lot of hype about Sonnet 3.7 and Gemini 2.5 Pro. In cursor, you can select which AI model you want to work with.

In general, if you ask it to do large-scale changes it starts working like a junior dev , but it is very good if you isolate parts of your code and ask it to do something.