Prompt Engineering ️
The art and science of communicating effectively with AI
What is Prompt Engineering?
Prompt engineering is the skill of writing instructions that get AI to do exactly what you want. Think of it as learning to communicate clearly with a very capable but literal assistant.
The Core Principles
1. Be Specific
"Write about dogs"
"Write a 200-word article about golden retrievers for dog owners,
focusing on exercise needs and common health issues"
2. Give Context
"Fix this code"
"I'm building a Python web scraper using BeautifulSoup.
This code should extract all product prices from an Amazon page,
but it's returning empty results. Help me debug it: [code]"
3. Show Examples (Few-Shot)
Convert these to formal language:
Input: "gonna grab lunch, brb"
Output: "I will be stepping away briefly for lunch."
Input: "lol that's wild"
Output: "That is quite remarkable."
Input: "u free tmrw?"
Output: [AI completes the pattern]
4. Define the Format
Analyze this text and respond in JSON format:
{
"sentiment": "positive/negative/neutral",
"key_topics": ["topic1", "topic2"],
"summary": "one sentence summary"
}
Quick Patterns That Work
| Pattern | When to Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Role Assignment | Expertise needed | "You are an expert data scientist..." |
| Step-by-Step | Complex tasks | "First analyze, then recommend, then explain" |
| Constraints | Control output | "In under 100 words, using simple language" |
| Examples | Pattern matching | "Like this example: [example]" |
Common Mistakes
- Being too vague ("make it better")
- Asking too many things at once
- Not providing relevant context
- Expecting mind-reading
References
Citation Note: All referenced papers are open access. We encourage readers to explore the original research for deeper understanding. If you notice any citation errors, please let us know.