Beginner-Friendly Topic
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Instructions
Instructions are the most important part of your prompt. They tell the AI what to do. Writing clear, specific instructions is the foundation of effective prompting.
What Instructions Are
Instructions are the action-oriented part of your prompt. They tell the AI:
- What to produce (summary, explanation, code, list)
- How to produce it (in simple English, as bullet points, in 50 words)
- What to focus on (the main points, the technical errors, the beginner-friendly version)
Examples of instructions:
- 'Explain this concept'
- 'Summarize in 3 bullet points'
- 'Write a professional email'
- 'List the pros and cons'
- 'Translate this to Spanish'
- 'Find the bugs in this code'
Deep Learning ⊂ Machine Learning ⊂ Artificial Intelligence
Clear vs Unclear Instructions
- Unclear: 'Do something with this text.' Clear: 'Summarize this text in 3 bullet points focused on the main findings.'
- Unclear: 'Make it better.' Clear: 'Improve the clarity and professionalism of this email without changing its meaning.'
- Unclear: 'Write code.' Clear: 'Write a Python function that checks if a number is even or odd and returns True or False.'
- Unclear: 'Explain it.' Clear: 'Explain how a database index works using a simple real-world analogy.'
Key Takeaways
- Instructions tell the AI what to produce and how
- Vague instructions produce vague results
- Specific instructions that include the format, focus, and goal produce better results
- Action verbs help: explain, summarize, write, list, translate, review, identify
- One clear instruction is better than multiple vague ones
Key Takeaways
- Instructions are the most important part of your prompt.
- Unclear: 'Do something with this text.' Clear: 'Summarize this text in 3 bullet points focused on the main findings.'
- Unclear: 'Make it better.' Clear: 'Improve the clarity and professionalism of this email without changing its meaning.'
- Unclear: 'Write code.' Clear: 'Write a Python function that checks if a number is even or odd and returns True or False.'