Github Copilot

I have been using Github Copilot for a week now and I can say, I’m amazed by its power, really I think it is the best improvement to my coding since switching from “vi/notepad” to full IDE.

Look at how it completes even comments within a custom type definition. “timeSpent” format is Jira specific, you enter worklogs using “1h”, “30m” format in Jira and Copilot correctly guesses it. It also guesses “timeSpentSeconds” format by understanding meaning of the words in the variable definition.

I’m an app developer for Atlassian tools like Jira, Confluence etc. So I use proprietary APIs a lot. If you are developing using more commonly used APIs, your experience can even be better because Copilot trains on existing code in various sources like Github, Stack Overflow etc. and there are more training material for common APIs.

Following example is from code completion of expected parameter for a mock callback in unit test code. Expected object is completely specific to my component. But, Github Copilot is successfully auto completing expected values of parameter object. I think it is using code from test preparation and type definition of callback function.

I think Copilot will make life of most developers easier by saving them performing lots of searches for sample or starter code on Stack Overflow or Google. I don’t expect it to write complete programs for a while but it is extremely useful when paired with a developer.