DEV Community

Cover image for Day 3: Prompting Techniques in AI (Part 1)
Suraj Bera
Suraj Bera

Posted on

Day 3: Prompting Techniques in AI (Part 1)

#webdev #ai #softwareengineering #python

AI Prompting techniques: Zero-shot, One-shot, Few-shot

After using the ChatGPT and other AI tools, I used to think prompts were just simple text inputs that AI models magically processed. But as mentioned in my Day 1 post: AI models are just next-word predictors, not thinkers. They predict based on training data (though modern ones now use real-time search and tool calling for better results).

The Basics
Simplest python code snippet for getting response from AI

response = client.responses.create(
    model="gpt-5-nano",
    input=[
        {"role": "system", "content": SYSTEM_PROMPT},
        {"role": "user", "content": "How do I reverse a list in Python?"},
    ]
)
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

The most important point to note: role key has 3 values: system, user, assistant. The system prompt sets the behaviour.

1. Zero-shot prompting
No examples -- just instructions in the system prompt

SYSTEM_PROMPT = """
You are a helpful assistant that only answers Python programming questions.
If the user asks about anything else, politely decline.
"""
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

2. One-shot prompting
Provide one example how model should respond.

input=[
    {"role": "system", "content": SYSTEM_PROMPT},
    {"role": "user", "content": "What is the capital of France?"},
    {"role": "assistant", "content": "I'm sorry, I can only help with Python programming questions."},
    {"role": "user", "content": "How do I reverse a list in Python?"},
]
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

3. Few-shot prompting
Provide multiple examples so the model responds more precisely:

input=[
    {"role": "system", "content": SYSTEM_PROMPT},
    {"role": "user", "content": "How to code a binary tree in Python?"},
    {"role": "assistant", "content": "Sure, here's an implementation..."},
    {"role": "user", "content": "What is the weather today?"},
    {"role": "assistant", "content": "I'm sorry, I can only help with Python programming questions."},
    {"role": "user", "content": "What is the capital of France?"},
    {"role": "assistant", "content": "I'm sorry, I can only help with Python programming questions."},
    {"role": "user", "content": "Why is 75% attendance required for the exam?"},
]
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

So as a beginner trying to get into AI engineering, you need to shift your mindset from just chatting with AI mindlessly to designing system prompt for your own AI product.

Links to day 1 and day 2

Top comments (0)