Don't build another effin' chatbot - Web Dev Challenge S1E1

Sponsored by DataStax (lwj.dev/astra-db) - What could you create if you had 30 minutes to plan and 4 hours to build? Lizzie Siegle, Chance Strickland, Jack Herrington, and Jason Lengstorf took on the Web Dev Challenge to find out. #webdevelopment #challenge #ai #javascript #python #reactjs
THE CHALLENGE
Build an AI-powered app that's not another f%*#ing chatbot. So much of what we see in the AI space are variations on the chatbot interface. Carter at DataStax challenged the devs to build something different.
THE TOOL
All apps must use Astra DB as part of the final build. Astra DB provides a vector store and tools for generating vector embeddings from any data you choose. Give it a try yourself: lwj.dev/astra-db
THE DEVS
Lizzie Siegle (www.lizziesiegle.xyz)
Chance Strickland (chance.dev/)
Jack Herrington (‪@jherr‬)
Jason Lengstorf (‪@learnwithjason‬)
THE ADVISOR
Carter Rebasa (github.com/crtr0)
THE APPS
Jack's DnD Encounter Generator: github.com/jherr/astradb-dnd
Jason's related videos PoC: not-another-chatbot.netlify.app/ · github.com/learnwithjason/wdc...
Lizzie's Star Wars fanfic generator: github.com/elizabethsiegle/st...
Chance's burger generator: github.com/chaance/carters-bu...
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Chapters:
0:00 In this episode...
0:41 The Challenge
1:39 What are vector databases used for?
3:21 Jason's plan
4:41 Lizzie's plan
5:33 Jack's plan
5:51 Chance's plan
6:21 Building
12:08 Demo time!
12:35 Jack's app
14:37 Jason's app
16:49 Lizzie's app
18:55 Chance's app
20:43 Final thoughts

[@daltonj507]

"I don't even know what the words are I'm supposed to be googling". LOL I would have been in the same boat. Great episode!

[@learnwithjason]

I was SWEATING. thank you!

[@kevinkkirimii]

😂😂😂

[@paxcoder]

@@learnwithjason You did it and you learned something. Double win.

[@Tomusicful]

Why not using ChatGPT here?

[@Tomusicful]

Did you guys use ChatGPT to help you out? Great stuff btw!)

[@shrutikapoor08]

Carter explained vector databases in such an easy-to-understand way. This video felt like a developer's reality show! Such good production, and so engaging. I would be sweating and questioning my decision to be there every single minute. Can't wait!

[@learnwithjason]

💜💜

[@sravansuresh7460]

The quality of this video is awesome.

[@learnwithjason]

thanks so much!

[@Huntabyte]

Jack talks the talk and walks the walk! Incredible video!

[@kevinkkirimii]

In 4 hours I'd still be googling.

[@learnwithjason]

loool if I didn't have Carter there I would have been, too 😆

[@SeanCassiere]

Only good vibes can be found here 🙌🏼

[@shaundai]

Omg this was hilarious and SO WELL DONE. This gave me "The Office" vibes. I love it so much

[@learnwithjason]

thank youuuu!

[@JohnFarrellDev]

I knew that Jack was going to absolutely smash it

[@learnwithjason]

should have known he’d run laps around me 😆

[@WillKlein]

After hearing Carter talk at his conference from the organizing role for years, I feel like we've been missing out on hearing him speak from a technical perspective. I love this whole format, keep it going!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@nexorise]

Great video, had a great laugh! Well thought through production aswell.

[@buildervision7082]

I'm so happy for this. Its like a Netflix series for developers except you actually watch it and be inspired to acquire the expertise of the characters who are not characters but actually real and skilled developers. Keep it coming!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you so much!

[@angieluvboo]

brilliant! loved every minute

[@learnwithjason]

thank you so much Angie!

[@PRonYouTube]

This is amazing. In awe of the production quality, transitions, storytelling. Thanks for putting this out!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you so much!

[@simplyreactnative6567]

You guys are effin AWESOME.

[@oguching]

This was awesome, more of this please. 👍👍

[@learnwithjason]

thank you! more soon 👀

[@oscarmini]

Great episode guys. Totally enjoyed this.

[@joshcirre]

I've loved this series from day one. This episode was better than I could have imagined. Editing, story, challenge, flow. 🥹 Beautiful.

[@learnwithjason]

thank you so much!

[@jwickerszh]

Jason managed to built the most useful app somehow :D Vector search is fun, especially you can use multi modal models to vectorize images as well. I also did a day of playing with this last week to do a purely vector base version of a product search for an e-commerce website. This adds a whole new way to search for something using either natural language or to find something similar to a picture you take with your phone for example.

[@learnwithjason]

the image idea is fun. we just might be cooking up something in that department over the summer… stay tuned!

[@mycollegeshirt]

Yeah, Jason was just setting low expectations, apparently.

[@nickytonline]

This was sooooo gooooood! Loved the whole aesthetic of the video and the projects were amazing!

[@learnwithjason]

appreciate you!

[@eusebieDev]

Just a wonderfully crafted video! I don't know how exactly I just stumbled upon this with this mornings coffee. But I'm so glad I did! Getting a kind of Portlandia turned into Devlandia vibe. Looking forward to more!

[@learnwithjason]

thanks so much!

[@anzilcutzz3148]

This is super coool !! Felt like a movie haha , very nice I subscribed hoping you guys make more contents like this :)

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@zhanezar]

Love any video with Jack always a great source of knowledge

[@dansurfrider]

Loved to see some real-life work from expert devs!

[@damians.7859]

Really nice energy in the room, had fun watching the video!

[@cotyhamilton]

Jason’s app is really cool, it seems better already than whatever KZbin does for suggestions lol

[@learnwithjason]

thanks! honestly I was just thrilled that I got working code on screen by the end 😆

[@MyCk21]

This was so much fun and such a great watch.We definitely need so more :) Keep up the work guys :)

[@learnwithjason]

thank you! more on the way - stay tuned!

[@danish2462]

OMG! I saw Jack Herrington and sticked longer while watching this video. Amazing episode by the way. Please keep doing more of this!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you so much!

[@Yarkaha]

You got no idea how this motivates me!! got to watch this video when I feel down!! Thank you!! -- Jason

[@learnwithjason]

thank you so much! and more on the way’

[@alexodan]

the fanfic generator was the first thing it came to my head when ai started to peak lol, i love Lizzie's project but all of them were amazing! really enjoyed this format

[@learnwithjason]

fanfic really is the funniest application of ai 😆

[@akishtp]

Can't wait for future episodes.

[@learnwithjason]

coming soon! 👀

[@ifindev]

Mannnnn, this is so much fun!!! Laughed a lot watching this, and got really pumped to build cool things. Thanks for the video 😍

[@learnwithjason]

thanks so much! next episode coming soon 👀

[@urkidden4834]

As a programmer this is a good challenge series. Glad to find this on my recommendation

[@learnwithjason]

thanks for watching!

[@afrowave]

Hey Jason, this must be what you meant when you said to Rachel, that you are just being a dork by yourself and we are happy seeing and being validated as dorks having fun as well. Thank you so much. This is such a fantastic emotional intro to AI and LLMs. I am sure many web devs will lower their anxiety levels and dive in. Thank you DataStax!

[@learnwithjason]

this is EXACTLY what I meant lol. thank you! 💜

[@felipevegaaraujo]

@jherr‬ is the right definition of what seniority means. Amazing!

[@learnwithjason]

truly a wonderful coder and teacher

[@pauleboselume3369]

This is dope! More please!

[@learnwithjason]

more on the way soon 👀

[@TrostCodes]

Amazing stuff dude! This looks like so much fun.

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@najlepszyinformatyk1661]

Delightful content! I'll stay for more

[@patrickodey984]

🔥 finally! Something I can watch without skipping

[@learnwithjason]

huge compliment. thank you!

[@CodingCatDev]

Another killer video!

[@realitydesigners]

this is so COOL i love this series already!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@liorocks]

I absolutely loved the editing. I wanna see more of these episodes 🤩

[@learnwithjason]

thanks so much! more on the way!

[@babblebey]

This is great Jason! This should be on Netflix 😅

[@learnwithjason]

thank you! I’ll figure out how to pitch a show to networks eventually 😅

[@kmylodarkstar2253]

just beautiful, learn is just this.Play commit errors, share stuff with other people and go to the next step alone and together. Help me to forgot how sometimes everything turns so repetitive

[@WilChow]

Great episode. Would love to see you do a full video building an app like this in realtime.

[@learnwithjason]

you mean like a long-form tutorial/build-along of one of the apps?

[@ahmedAltariqi]

That was pretty entertaining to watch! I love it ❤

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@patrickmutuku]

"I'm good... but I know other people are freaking out"

[@anarelle]

OMG I'm soooo thrilled about this! I need it to be on every streaming platform and have like a million episodes!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you so much!

[@Kay8B]

Jack is the coding GIGACHAD in this episode hahaha, all had great idea and executed well for only 4 hours.

[@learnwithjason]

lol Jack really came in and set the bar for sure 😆

[@_evillevi]

D&D mentioned, let's go!!!

[@ephraimetuk9670]

this is so good. i'm rootin for another episode

[@learnwithjason]

thank you! coming soon 👀

[@TerryDellino]

Looking forward to more in the series 🎉

[@learnwithjason]

thanks! more coming soon 👀

[@winterqq1270]

Great production!! may i ask what is the font at 0:40

[@freddiechipres]

Great video, you guys nailed it on Production value

[@learnwithjason]

much appreciated 💜

[@PRonYouTube]

"Wait... Jar Jar is your 50 yard line?" 🤣

[@learnwithjason]

right?! 💀

[@EkeneEze]

Do you wanna finish mine? Hell no 🤣

[@learnwithjason]

pretty rude, right? 😆

[@jasongates6894]

I really wish I hadn't seen this video. The stuff these developers are making seems so fun and awesome, and I have no idea what they were saying 99% of the time. If I was asked to do this I would fail miserably.

[@learnwithjason]

don’t forget that we were helping each other and had Carter there for support. no one was alone! 💜

[@LawrenceDCodes.]

Here for all of this!

[@learnwithjason]

💜

[@jonathansanderson807]

Such a great video!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@SidneyBuckner]

OHHHHHH!!! This turned out so cool!!!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you! excited for future episodes. I heard there are some pretty cool people joining

[@SidneyBuckner]

👀👀👀

[@miGuHD]

Banger video

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@taranehdohmer2016]

This is SO MUCH FUN!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@cas818028]

A great lesson in marketing...... Jack has those Ron Burgandy vibes all day!

[@klutch4198]

This is so rad!!!!!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@rowjay007]

This is content!

[@babyboie20]

I love this!!

[@chiekenwanna-nzewunwa1773]

Great Vlog👍🏾

[@whitep4nth3r]

outstanding 😎 ON TOUR TO THE UK WHEN????

[@learnwithjason]

when the budgets align! 😅

[@tomino133]

Jack is an absolute G 😀

[@Coder.tahsin]

Amazing, hope it continues for long long time....

[@learnwithjason]

me too! more coming soon

[@sethdavis512]

YEEESSS! MOOORE! ❤

[@learnwithjason]

soon 👀

[@CodeSnap01]

Very Informative and motivating for me.

[@learnwithjason]

great news! if you want to get in the mix we’ve got a giveaway going for folks who build an app before the next episode drops! check lwj.dev/blog/web-dev-challenge-giveaway-full-stack-amplify for details

[@RobertGroves]

This was fun. I'm curious, how much time did y'all take to review the vector db concepts, astra itself , and come up with an idea before you started the build countdown?

[@learnwithjason]

I think Jack and Lizzie had *some* idea of how it worked before the episode. Chance and I learned it from Carter about 2 minutes before we started planning 😆

[@RobertGroves]

@@learnwithjason LOL, nice. Sometimes you just have to dive in and build I guess. Great job to all!

[@tomich20]

Can we have a full reality show of developers?

[@yashvarshney8651]

nice vid!

[@architech5940]

I would much rather watch developer shows like this. Great job on the episode!

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!

[@reFLEQzion]

"LLMs are kind of like me sometimes, where im very confidently incorrect" 🍪

[@learnwithjason]

Lizzie is low-key hilarious

[@colbyfayock]

good stuff 👏

[@learnwithjason]

thanks Colby!

[@mage3690]

My idea would've been to create a thesaurus of sorts. Ever since I watched 3Blue1Brown's short on how LLMs transform words into vectors, I just want to grab those vectors and do math with them directly before running the LLM backwards to generate a word from a vector. Will AVERAGE(Canada, Mexico) = America? What is dot(anger, apoplectic) * joy? That last question I want answered especially badly. Lethologica annoys me to NO END. All I want is a word that means to "joy" what "apoplectic" means to "anger" and I CANNOT THINK OF IT. Thesauri are terrible at this, I've tried using them that way.

[@learnwithjason]

great, now I want to know what that word is too 😆

[@robertkylethomas173]

We need someone going "it will keel"

[@Dadylongarms]

Absolutely Love this...Subscribe

[@Yusuf-ok5rk]

it feels like when Jack starts talking, mic quality gets much better lol

[@joshua_chris]

Great environment. I love it.

[@learnwithjason]

Thank you!

[@geraldmartinez3865]

Amazing🎉

[@learnwithjason]

thank you’

[@sahil2pradhan]

yes chatbot day

[@michaelekwere2024]

What theme is Jack using? Been looking for it for a long time. Anybody?

[@jherr]

Night Wolf [black] with JetBrains Mono

[@user-tw8ho9pf2h]

we got master chef dev version before gta 6

[@scott_itall8638]

weird question, what external HP monitors is everyone using? on the hunt for a good monitor to my Mac but so far they end up not that great.

[@learnwithjason]

I don't remember the exact model later, but my studio has the 24" LG Ultra-fine monitors. they're solid!

[@scott_itall8638]

@@learnwithjason hard to find in Aus at the moment, at least on the shelves. Thanks.

[@radi_dev7628]

J.Herr, my React guy

[@radi_dev7628]

Ah. What a show off.

[@codingwithshashi]

The Office would be proud.

[@learnwithjason]

doing our best over here 🫡

[@MadeInJack]

We didnt see the demo for the last one :(

[@learnwithjason]

we had an issue with the screen recording, unfortunately. the source code is in the description if you want to check it out!

[@sakibshadman1448]

Need Gordon Ramsey as judge !

[@learnwithjason]

looooool

[@carshoesch]

This video inspired me to create a new pet project so that I can try out a new programming language thank you for that

[@learnwithjason]

YES so happy to hear that! and just in case: there’s an active challenge and giveaway leading up to the next episode if you want to play along with the community! www.learnwithjason.dev/blog/web-dev-challenge-giveaway-full-stack-amplify

[@MattFarthing]

Note to self, don’t build a chat bot 🤖

[@learnwithjason]

lol

[@majorbender]

Devs like to complicate simple things

[@jaymason7097]

I love when people break down mathematical ideas into relatable, everyday language. However, not at the expense of truth. We give things names in language for a reason, and we want to (at least loosely) preserve the definitions of words. And the truth is, his definition of a vector is incorrect. Vector is not a point (or else we would call it a point). Not to be too pedantic, a vector is a geometric object that has both magnitude and direction graphically depicted as an arrow connecting an origin point A to a terminal point B with a length repressing its magnitude. In a database, these vectors are represented as lists of numbers [m, p, ... , q] with length n where each element in the list maps to a "component" of the vector in dimension i (i.e. it's magnitude in a specific direction). I guess they need to start teaching linear algebra in bootcamps?

[@taofeeqomotolani2311]

Jack shouldn't be involved, it is absolutely cheating. 😁

[@learnwithjason]

💀💀

[@nickwoodward819]

I was interested in this until he started talking about LLMs in the db. 😴

[@mage3690]

Skill issue

[@nickwoodward819]

@@mage3690 says every AI cheerleader always, regardless of how unnecessarily shoe-horned into the product it is.

[@mage3690]

@@nickwoodward819 damn, I thought you were bored because DB, not bored because LLM. I take my "skill issue" back, have a "based" instead. There is no skill involved in LLMs, and therefore there can be no skill issues.

[@Jesse_Johnson]

Cyber guy here. Been interested in webdev/dev/llms. Immediate sub. Great positive vibe. 🎉just all around good content.

[@learnwithjason]

Thanks so much! Happy to see you here. 💜

[@liu-river]

Am I the only one who's still confused after watching the show

[@luqmanoop]

I love the openness of the participants 🫡. This is really well put together ❤

[@learnwithjason]

thank you!