Survey the major assistants on the market, protect your data, and set up learning-oriented custom instructions.
Open this lesson in KodokonSeveral major assistants share the market: ChatGPT (made by OpenAI), Claude (Anthropic), Gemini (Google), Copilot (Microsoft, built into Windows and office tools), and also Le Chat (Mistral, a French company). They all rely on the same principle you now know: a large language model. They differ in their models, their interfaces, and their options, but good news for you: for learning to program, they all do the job perfectly. Everything you see in this course (CTCF prompts, the tutor prompt, safeguards) works identically with each of them.
Do you have to pay? Each assistant offers a free plan (with usage limits or a slightly less powerful model) and a paid subscription. To start out, the free version is more than enough: your requests for explanations and exercises are simple. The real deciding factor is comfort: try two or three of them, keep the one whose interface you like. Above all, remember that the difference between good and bad use of AI comes 90% from your prompts and your method, not from the tool you choose.
Now let's move on to configuration. Most assistants offer custom instructions (sometimes called preferences or personalization): a text that you write just once, in the settings, and that the assistant silently re-reads at the start of every conversation. It is the ideal place to lock in your posture as a learner: no more repeating your level and your rules every time.
About me: I'm a complete beginner in programming and I'm learning with the Kodokon app. My goal is to UNDERSTAND, not to get ready-made solutions.
How to answer me, in all of our conversations:
- Adapt to a complete-beginner level: define every technical term at its first appearance.
- When I'm working on an exercise, NEVER give me the complete solution: guide me with questions and progressive hints.
- When I show you my code, point out the problems and ask me to fix them myself.
- Explicitly flag anything you're unsure about and invite me to check in the official documentation.
- End your explanations with a small question that tests my understanding.
- Answer in English.Once your instructions are saved, test them: open a new conversation and submit a real case. If the assistant still hands you a complete solution, your instructions aren't being taken into account: reword them or restate the rule at the start of the conversation. This little quality check guarantees you a reliable tutor for the rest of the course.
Configuration test: I have an exercise that consists of writing a function that reverses a word (for example, "cat" becomes "tac").
Based on my custom instructions, what should you do: write the solution for me, or guide me without giving it away? Apply the right attitude and begin.