Github CoPilot: A leap in DEV Productivity

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Productivity

GitHub Copilot can be used to improve productivity.

1. Code Completion: The first and most significant feature of GitHub Copilot is its ability to auto-complete code. As we type, it will automatically suggest the next few lines of code or even complete the entire function. This feature can save a lot of time and reduce coding errors.
2. Syntax Suggestion: GitHub Copilot provides suggestions on the most appropriate syntax to use in a given programming language based on the context of the code. This feature can help developers avoid syntax errors, misplaced, or incorrect brackets, or incorrect parameter types.
3. Contextual Understanding: Another feature of GitHub Copilot is its ability to understand the context. As we type, it can offer suggestions based on what we have already written. For example, if we have declared a variable, it will suggest possible values based on the data type.
4. Function Definition: GitHub Copilot can identify the correct function signature in the programming language and provide detailed documentation for it within the code. This feature can be helpful when working with complex or unfamiliar functions.
5. Identify Bugs: GitHub Copilot can help identify bugs within the code by providing suggestions on corrections. This feature can save developers time spent debugging and reduce the risk of shipping code with bugs.

Understanding

Github CoPilot be used for documentation:

1. Generating Documentation: GitHub Copilot can help with generating documentation by providing suggestions for comments and structure based on the context of the code. As developers write code, GitHub Copilot can automatically suggest comments and create docstrings for functions and methods, making them easier to understand and more discoverable.
2. Refactoring Code: Reorganizing and refactoring code can make it more readable and understandable, and this can extend to documentation as well. GitHub Copilot can quickly analyze the codebase, detect duplicate lines, and suggest improvements. By making these suggested improvements, the code becomes easier to understand, and the documentation becomes more accessible.
3. Quick Examples: GitHub Copilot can provide quick examples of how to use a specific function or feature. These examples can help to explain how the code works and how to use it.

Testing

When creating a new test file, GitHub Copilot will suggest opening statements such as initializing a test class, basis annotation, and imports. To specify the scenario being tested, you can add a comment at the beginning of the test, which will act as a guiding principle for Github Copilot to suggest the next line or the entire test.

After creating a few initial tests, be sure to run them to check their correctness. If there are known issues, try resolving them manually. This helps in building the context for the subsequent tests created.

For complex scenarios, GitHub Copilot needs to understand the internal workings of the classes and functions to generate the test or understand the list of scenarios to be tested. To achieve this, you can open related files that CoPilot uses as a training set. This will increase the efficiency of GitHub CoPilot.