Coder's block? GitHub Copilot now assists with project initiation
What's the story
GitHub is elevating its code completion tool, Copilot, with a new service named GitHub Copilot Workspace. This feature is designed to assist developers at the beginning of their projects by leveraging the capabilities of GPT-4. The aim is to reduce the time engineers spend on navigating through code and planning new projects. Initially, Workspace will be available in a technical preview mode for a select group of developers.
Integration plan
Copilot workspace to be integrated into GitHub platform
GitHub plans to incorporate Copilot Workspace into the larger GitHub Copilot platform after its preview phase concludes. According to a blog post by GitHub, the new feature will be integrated into GitHub repositories or libraries. Developers can use prompts to define their project goals for Copilot Workspace, which will then provide guidance on how to start and offer a step-by-step process.
Functionality boost
Copilot workspace enhances project inception and code review
Jonathan Carter of GitHub Next, told The Verge that while Copilot has been beneficial during projects, it lacked functionality at the start. He stated that integrating Copilot at a project's inception allows developers to spend more time actually coding than reading the code and documentation around it to figure out how to begin. Carter also noted that Copilot Workspace is useful for revisiting older code as it can understand the code base faster than humans can comprehend written documentation.