1. Prompt
The prompt is what you tell the AI. It's like giving instructions or asking a question.
Example: "Write a function that sorts a list" is a prompt.
Think of it as: Your input to the AI.
2. Tokens
Tokens are chunks of words the AI understands. They can be whole words, parts of words, or even punctuation.
Example: "Hello, world!" might be 3 tokens: ["Hello", ",", " world!"]
Important because: AI pricing and limits are often measured in tokens.
3. Context
Context is how much the AI can remember at once. It's like a limited working memory.
Example: If context = 4,000 tokens, the AI can only "see" about 3,000 words at a time.
Why it matters: If your conversation gets too long, the AI "forgets" the beginning.
Simple Analogy
Imagine you're telling a story to a friend:
- Prompt = Your question: "Tell me a story about a cat"
- Tokens = The individual words your friend uses to tell the story
- Context = How much of the story your friend can remember while telling it
For Developers
- Craft good prompts to get better code
- Watch token usage to control costs
- Stay within context limits so the AI doesn't "forget" important instructions
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