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Prompt Engineering and Patterns
Prompt anatomy; few-shot, chain-of-thought, structured output; tool use and function calling; prompt caching and cost optimization; the anti-patterns that waste tokens and produce flaky outputs.
Module Content
Prompt Engineering Fundamentals
What makes a good prompt — the practical version, not the philosophical one. FIND_VIDEO: search 'prompt engineering basics best practices' — recommended channel: DeepLearning.AI / Anthropic / Greg Brockman. Aim for 11 min or under.
Quiz: Prompt Anatomy & System Instructions
Production prompts have structure. Learn the six elements and you'll write better prompts on the first try.
Few-Shot, Chain-of-Thought, and Structured Output
Three patterns that handle 80% of production prompting needs. When each one wins. FIND_VIDEO: search 'few shot chain of thought prompting structured output' — recommended channel: DeepLearning.AI / Anthropic. Aim for 11 min or under.
Quiz: Few-Shot, CoT & Structured Output
Few-shot for consistency, CoT for reasoning, structured output for pipelines. Pick by task — and combine when appropriate.
Tool Use and Function Calling
Where LLMs become genuinely useful: when they can call functions, query databases, browse the web. FIND_VIDEO: search 'LLM tool use function calling agents' — recommended channel: Anthropic / Sam Witteveen / James Briggs. Aim for 11 min or under.
Quiz: Tool Calling & Agent Architectures
The function-calling pattern that turns an LLM from a text generator into an action-taking system.
SUBMISSION: Case 2 — Stateful Support Agent with Function Calling
Build an agent that uses tools to answer customer questions about orders, shipping, and refunds.
Prompt Caching and Cost Optimization
The single highest-ROI prompt engineering technique in 2026. Cache once, save 90%. FIND_VIDEO: search 'prompt caching anthropic openai cost optimization' — recommended channel: Anthropic / AI Engineer. Aim for 10 min or under.
Quiz: Prompt Caching & Latency Optimization
Prompt caching cuts repeated-prompt costs by ~90% in 2026. Skipping it leaves real money on the table.
SUBMISSION: Case 3 — Token Cost Audit & Ephemeral Caching
Your RAG app costs $30K/month. Halve it while maintaining quality.
Common Prompt Engineering Anti-Patterns
The five things that look smart but degrade prompt quality. Stop doing them. FIND_VIDEO: search 'prompt engineering mistakes anti patterns' — recommended channel: Anthropic / Greg Brockman / AI Engineer. Aim for 9 min or under.
Quiz: Prompt Engineering Anti-Patterns
Anti-patterns that waste tokens and produce flaky outputs. Spot them, eliminate them.