XPost: alt.comp.os.windows-10, alt.comp.os.windows-11
From: marion@facts.com
This is an example, for the record, of the current state of AI on Windows.
I was doing a review for Amazon Vine who
had sent me a hose fitting to review (where I do about 8 reviews a day for
free products Amazon Vine sends to my home) so I had to ask a bunch of
questions of CoPilot to get to know the product details better, and at some
point I needed to convert grams to ounces, so I asked CoPilot to write the
Windows batch script for me.
Having programmed since the days of Fortran IV (before Fortran 77) and
COBOL & PL/1 and IBM Assembly Language, and learning to hate programming, I
prefer to let the AI write the programs for me.
Below is the verbatim interaction with CoPilot, for others to benefit,
where it's interesting how SIMILAR AI is in making the same mistakes we all
made when we were LEARNING how to program - but - and this is key - but AI
recovers from those many sophormorish mistakes thousands of times FASTER
than we would recover from them. Which is why it works so well as a team.
10 The AI puts out garbage
20 The human tests that garbage & tells AI to fix what didn't work
30 AI fixes it (goto 10)
See below for details...
User: ght is how many tpi
Copilot: GHT (Garden Hose Thread) has 11.5 threads per inch (TPI). It's the
standard thread used for garden hoses in North America.
User: there are only about 1/4 inch of threads in the female hose fitting
though, which at 11.5TPI is only about (how many threads)?
Copilot: ...2.875 threads, which rounds up to about 3 threads total. The
threads hold the fitting together; it's the washer that prevents leaks.
User: by way of contrast, the male ends measured at a full half inch, which at
11.5 TPI is about (how many threads)?
Copilot: That equals 5.75 threads, or about 5 to 6 full threads.
User: the female garden hose thing (is it a nut?) has 8 sides. Why not 6?
Copilot: Yes, it's a nut-specifically a swivel nut. The 8 sides give better
grip angles, reduce rounding off, and increase tool compatibility.
User: the hose fitting is very heavy. Over 500 grams. Can you write a batch
file for window that asks for input of the number of grams and then it
converts that to cooking ounces in fractions no smaller than 1/8, and where it
loops to ask for the next
conversion but if you type q it will quit.
Copilot: [Provides initial batch script to convert grams to ounces with loop
and fraction rounding.]
User: Enter number of grams (or type 'q' to quit): 1395
Copilot: Error messages occur due to non-integer math and letters in input
like "1395g".
User: Can you fix it?
Copilot: [Provides updated script using integer math and input validation.]
User: Enter number of grams (or type 'q' to quit): 23
Copilot: Incorrectly flagged as invalid. Validation needs tweaking.
User: Can you fix the funky characters?
Copilot: Save the batch file as ANSI instead of UTF-8 to eliminate stray
symbols like ÿ.
User: Can you give me the script in ascii so I can copy it using GVIM to
g2oz.bat?
Copilot: [Provides script using plain ASCII characters, tilde replaced with ~.]
User: Can you fix the output to omit "0" when less than one ounce and format
14-1/4 ounces style?
Copilot: [Updates script formatting accordingly.]
User: Can you make the output read like: "23 grams (or about 7/8 ounces)"?
Copilot: [Adds formatted output with optional pounds & suggests plurals.]
User: Oh, yes, I didn't think of plurals. Yes please.
Copilot: [Updates script with correct pluralization: ounce/ounces,
pound/pounds.]
User: how long did this conversation take?
Copilot: From your first message to this one, the conversation has been going
for about 1 hour and 40 minutes. And we've covered quite a bit - garden hose
threads, wrench geometry, rounding fractions in cooking conversions,
ASCII-safe scripting,
pluralization, and even how to copy your chat. Productive and charming, I'd
say. Want me to compile the final batch script one more time for easy pasting?
Or do you feel like cooking up something totally different now?
User: yes. Please do. Also, how do I copy this whole conversation?
Copilot: Instructions for selecting and copying manually, or using GVIM.
User: Yuck. Too much formatting. Can you convert this whole conversation into
pure ascii text so I can paste it into GVim?
Copilot: [You're reading the result!]
@echo off
REM 20250719 g2oz.bat convert grams to ounces, kitchen rounding
setlocal enabledelayedexpansion
:Start
set /p grams=Enter number of grams (numeric only, or type 'q' to quit):
if /i "%grams%"=="q" exit /b
REM Validate input
echo.%grams%| findstr /R "^[0-9][0-9]*$" >nul
if errorlevel 1 (
echo Please enter a valid number with no letters or symbols.
goto Start
)
REM Convert grams to total eighths of an ounce
set /a total_eighths=(%grams% * 8 + 14) / 28
set /a total_ounces=!total_eighths! / 8
set /a eighths=!total_eighths! %% 8
REM Build fraction string
set fraction=
if !eighths!==1 set fraction=1/8
if !eighths!==2 set fraction=1/4
if !eighths!==3 set fraction=3/8
if !eighths!==4 set fraction=1/2
if !eighths!==5 set fraction=5/8
if !eighths!==6 set fraction=3/4
if !eighths!==7 set fraction=7/8
REM Calculate pounds
set /a pounds=!total_ounces! / 16
set /a ounces=!total_ounces! %% 16
REM Determine pluralization
set oz_label=ounce
if !ounces! GTR 1 set oz_label=ounces
if !eighths! GTR 0 set oz_label=ounces
set lb_label=pound
if !pounds! GTR 1 set lb_label=pounds
REM Build final output
set about=
if !total_ounces! LSS 1 (
if defined fraction (
set about=%fraction% !oz_label!
) else (
set about=less than 1 ounce
)
) else (
if !pounds! GEQ 1 (
if defined fraction (
set about=!pounds! !lb_label! !ounces!-!fraction! !oz_label!
) else (
if !ounces!==0 (
set about=!pounds! !lb_label!
) else (
set about=!pounds! !lb_label! !ounces! !oz_label!
)
)
) else (
if defined fraction (
set about=!ounces!-!fraction! !oz_label!
) else (
set about=!ounces! !oz_label!
)
)
)
echo %grams% grams (or about !about!)
goto Start
--
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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