GitHub Copilot is a ChatGPT based AI pair programmer extension for Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains IDE, and Neovim. It is most effective in Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Ruby, Go, C# and C++.
Installation
GitHub Copilot has personal and business subscription model. Start your free trial at https://github.com/features/copilot
- Install the extension in Visual Studio Code or Visual Studio, see https://docs.github.com/en/copilot/quickstart
Ask for suggestions
- Create a file with the standard file extension of the language to indicate the preferred programming language to the AI.
- Start to create a function with the name that describes its purpose (in this example we will use the JavaScript syntax)
function getDaysInMonth(month, year) {
(If your IDE automatically adds the closing curly brace, remove it, otherwise Copilot does not offer solutions)
or - Create a comment to describe the functionality
// Express server on port 3000 and return the current date
Select the suggestion
- Use the Alt-[ and Alt-] on Windows, Option-[ and Otion-] on Mac to cycle through the suggested solutions and press Tab to accept it, or Esc to reject all of them.
See all suggestions in a new tab
- Press Ctrl-Enter to open a new tab, and a few seconds later all suggestions will be listed in the new tab.
- Click the Accept Solution link above the suggestion to insert it into your file.
For more information see the documentation
To activate and deactivate the GitHub Copilot
- In the lower right corner of the editor click the Copilot icon
- Select the scope to disable GitHub Copilot: for all languages, or for a specific language only.
