Artificial intelligence (AI) has been rapidly changing how we do things in our lives. From automating repetitive tasks to giving data-driven medical diagnoses, AI is here to make things easy and efficient for us. Now that the paranoia of AI taking our jobs away is fairly reduced, we can freely explore how AI can help us become faster and more productive in our jobs.
Apart from image and content generation, there are many other ways AI can help us in our professional lives. One such aspect is code generation. The concept blew minds when it first came to the forefront. Who knew AI could be intelligent enough to form logic and functions through code?
Well, this is 2024 and AI is here to help us in ways we never thought was possible.
What is AI Code Generation?
Every code has a function but manually writing a code is difficult and requires a lot of time. AI code generation is using software and technologies like Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate computer code, based on a conversational prompt. Software engineers explain what kind of code they want, which language the code should be in, and what they want the code to do, in conversational language. In turn, the AI generates code that fits the requirements.
AI code generation involves the extensive use of Generative AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate the entire code or a chunk of it. Moreover, the chances of AI-generated code being imperfect are always there. But the automatically generated code always gives the software engineers a boost. It is also a great tool for newbies who have not yet mastered coding.
An obvious yet underrated prerequisite for AI code generation is high-speed internet. If the internet has a stable speed, then code generation and real-time suggestions will be uninterrupted. In cases of interrupted internet connections, the AI suggestions do not show up, which means you might lose an important insight while writing code. Try Xfinity Internet, which has high speeds and reliable connectivity. Even if there is an outage, Xfinity customer service is quick to address the issue.
The Best AI Code Generators to Try Out
With the rise of Generative AI, there have been multiple AI code generation tools made available for the general public. Let us explore some of these and see how they can help you in code generation.
1. GitHub Copilot
The GitHub Copilot is a prominent name in the arena of AI-powered code generation. It is already a handy assistant to thousands of developers around the world. It is a robust tool, developed by OpenAI and GitHub. You can easily integrate into Integrated Development Environments like Visual Studio Code and use it for all your coding-related tasks. By being integrated into your IDE, it can give you context-aware suggestions, and help you where you get stuck.
It employs OpenAI’s Codex, which is a language model trained on a variety of code repositories. GitHub Copilot can help you the most with Python, JavaScript, Perl, Go, Ruby, and TypeScript. The best part is that it is continuously learning as you work in your IDE. This means it can familiarize itself with your coding style and generate suggestions accordingly.
However, the downside is that you can blindly rely on the code generated by GitHub Copilot, as it is often unoptimized.
But don’t let this stop you from using it, as you can still edit that code. It will definitely take less time than writing it from scratch.
2. TabNine
It is an AI-powered code generator that also integrates into your Integrated Development Environment (IDE), like Visual Code Studio, Sublime, Atom, etc. It is trained on expert-vetted, high-quality, and open-source codes, which drastically reduces the possibility of it producing error-ridden code suggestions.
TabNine is trained on a proprietary Large Language Model (LLM), which means it generates code that is secure and high-quality. This is why TabNine is known for safer outputs that are best suited to enterprise requirements.
A major benefit of using TabNine is that it is available offline since it is a local AI model. It supports twenty programming languages and is free to use, which means you can try it out before subscribing to it for $12 a month. However, a prominent con is that its code generation is a bit slow, which means it might cost you your time.
3. Amazon Q Developer
Previously known as Code Whisperer, Amazon Q Developer is considered a game changer in the domain of AI-enabled code generation. It offers code suggestions in real time and can generate thousands of lines of code. It can help you even understand codes as well. The best part? It scans your existing code for any vulnerabilities and provides you with quick-fix suggestions to cater to them.
If you are building in an AWS environment, then you can use Amazon Q to understand problems in the AWS management console. You can also use it to get access to live support to solve these problems.
Amazon Q Developer has conversation memory, like most AI assistants. This means it can remember the context of the conversation you have with him and offer suggestions and completions accordingly. The only downside is that sometimes it is unable to handle tough coding tasks and might generate wrong code suggestions.
The AI code generation tools mentioned in this blog are just the tip of the iceberg. There are many more amazing AI-powered code-generation tools in the market. You can boost your productivity and save time by using these for automation and minor bug fixing.
