GitHub Copilot

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About

This page is a child of: GitHub and VS Code


GitHub Copilot is an artificial intelligence (AI) powered code completion tool, designed to assist developers by providing suggestions for whole lines or blocks of code. Developed by GitHub in collaboration with OpenAI, Copilot integrates directly into code editors like Visual Studio Code (VS Code).

As of Nov 2023, GitHub Copilots is (~$20 a month), and they can charge that much because it can significantly improve your coding speed and accuracy.

Overview

GitHub Copilot is based on a variant of the GPT-3 language model and has been trained on a vast corpus of public source code available on GitHub. It is designed to understand the context of the code being written and provide relevant, syntactically correct code completions.

Features

  • AI-Powered Suggestions: Offers context-aware code suggestions, enhancing productivity in software development.
  • Support for Multiple Languages: Compatible with a wide range of programming languages and frameworks.
  • Integration with Code Editors: Seamlessly integrates with VS Code, one of the most popular code editors.
  • Learning and Improvement: Continuously learns and improves based on user interactions and feedback.

Usage in Visual Studio Code

  • Installation: Copilot can be installed as an extension in VS Code.
  • Real-Time Code Completion: As developers type in VS Code, Copilot provides real-time suggestions.
  • Exploratory Coding: Helps in exploring new APIs or learning new languages by providing relevant code examples.

Examples

Generating a Function

// User types
function calculateArea(radius)

// Copilot suggests
function calculateArea(radius) {
    return Math.PI * radius * radius;
}

API Usage Example

// User types
axios.get('https://api.example.com/data')

// Copilot suggests
axios.get('https://api.example.com/data')
     .then(response => {
         console.log(response.data);
     })
     .catch(error => {
         console.log(error);
     });

Limitations and Considerations

  • Review and Validation: Suggestions by Copilot should be reviewed for correctness.
  • Adherence to Best Practices: Copilot's code might not always follow best coding practices.
  • Licensing Issues: There are ongoing discussions about the licensing implications of using code generated by Copilot in various projects.

Links