GitHub Copilot is created using OpenAI’s Codex API. It is an AI pair programmer that suggests autocomplete lines of code to users in Visual Studio Code. GitHub Copilot translates natural language into 12 programming languages. It is built in a way that it analyzes the context in the file you are editing, as well as related files, and offers suggestions from within your text editor. Copilot provides an easy way for developers to work together on projects, share code, and review changes.
It allows developers to easily manage their projects, track their progress, and keep up with their teams. Copilot also helps developers to keep their code organized and quickly find and resolve issues. With GitHub Copilot, developers can easily set up their development environment, collaborate with their teams, and keep their projects running smoothly.
How does it work?
GitHub Copilot is powered by OpenAI Codex. The auto-generated suggestions come from the context within the file, like function names, code comments, docstrings, file names, cursor position, and more. Based on this information, Copilot suggests code snippets that developers can accept by simply pressing the Tab key on their keyboards. The AI tool understands TypeScript, Python, JavaScript, Ruby etc. The suggestions occur from an open-source code within the GitHub repositories. To get the most out of GitHub Copilot, you should segment your code into smaller functions.
Make sure you’re writing good comments and docstrings as you’re working. Always use meaningful names for function parameters, as this will make it easier for Copilot to understand your internet.
These are a few shortcuts in GitHub that help developers in saving their time.
- Accept inline code suggestion — Tab
- Dismiss inline code suggestion — Esc
- Show next suggestion — Alt + ] or Option (⌥) + ]
- Show previous suggestion — Alt + [ or Option (⌥) + [
- Trigger suggestion — Alt + \ or Option (⌥) + \
- Open ten suggestions in a separate pane — Ctrl + Enter
Here are a few snippets on how GitHub copilot functions:
What are the benefits of using GitHub Copilot?
GitHub Copilot is a powerful tool for developers that allows them to easily manage their projects and collaborate with others. It provides a centralized platform for developers to store, manage, and share their code. Here are some of the benefits of using GitHub Copilot for developers:
- Easy Collaboration: GitHub Copilot makes it easy for developers to collaborate with others on their projects. It allows developers to easily share their code with others and work together on projects in real time. This makes it easy to quickly get feedback and make changes to the code.
- Automated Testing: GitHub Copilot provides automated testing capabilities that can help developers quickly identify and fix bugs in their code. This helps developers save time and ensure that their code is of the highest quality.
- Easy Deployment: GitHub Copilot allows developers to easily deploy their code to production environments. This makes it easy to quickly deploy code and get it up and running in no time.
- Security: GitHub Copilot provides a secure platform for developers to store and manage their code. This helps ensure that their code is safe from malicious attacks and unauthorized access.
GitHub Copilot is a great tool for developers that provides many benefits. It makes it easy for developers to collaborate, test, and deploy their code quickly and securely.
How are developers at Springworks benefitted?
Developers at Springworks subscribe to GitHub copilot’s individual plan through the company’s corporate card. Before taking the subscription some of them make use of the trial period to evaluate and understand the functionality and versatility.
This helps them to not think over repetitive or boilerplate codes. The latest feature of voice command helps developers and programmers to do things like move to different lines of code, or navigate to methods or blocks. They can even control Visual Studio Code, with commands like “run the program” or “toggle zen mode.” The developers summarize what a chunk of code does, and even ask for a code summarization.
Here’s what they have to say on GitHub Copilot
“GitHub copilot helps in saving time and allows me to do more coding with the help of its inline auto-completion code suggestions”
– Anuj Kapoor (SDE – 1 )
“Whenever I need to write object names repeatedly, or if it’s written somewhere in a file with key-value pair, or with a similar pattern, it auto-suggests that helps in saving time to re-write them again. It also helps write common utility functions, and then change those functions as per the need”.
– Tarun Kumar ( SDE )
“I have been using copilot from the time it was released for technical preview. So much of the code and mainly unit testing is faster to write because of it. It saves almost 30 minutes to 1 hour a day. It also helps set up a new repo or add boilerplate code without much business logic. Even with business logic, if one writes what they are thinking in words, sometimes we get most of the code and we just have to tweak”
– Avinash Ramesha ( SDE – 3 )
“I have integrated copilot with my VScode. I use it frequently and it saves a lot of time. Copilot helps me to not think over repetitive and boilerplate codes”.
– Shikhar Sharma ( SDE )
Conclusion
GitHub Copilot is an invaluable tool for developers. Developers can save time and effort. It provides an easy-to-use interface that allows developers to quickly and easily manage their repositories, branches, and pull requests. With its powerful features, GitHub Copilot can help developers save time and effort, allowing them to focus on the important tasks of developing their projects.
