Few-Shot Learning Patterns

Teach AI new tasks by providing carefully structured examples in the prompt.

Category: Engineering | Type: Skills

Skills: Few-Shot, Pattern Teaching, Example Design

Techniques: Structured Output, Few-Shot

Prompt

Few-shot prompting teaches through examples. Structure: Provide 3-5 input/output pairs for [your task] before your actual query. Rules for effective few-shot: 1. Examples should cover edge cases, not just the happy path. 2. Format must be consistent — the model learns the pattern, not just content. 3. Include one "negative example" showing what NOT to output. 4. Order matters — place the most relevant example last (recency bias). 5. For classification tasks, balance the examples across all categories. Advanced: Use "chain-of-thought few-shot" — show the reasoning process in your examples, not just the answer.

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