GitHub Copilot is revolutionizing programming. This service, powered by Microsoft, makes use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning so that users can give an instruction to the program and it automatically generates the necessary code. With this, programmers reduce their development times and obtain better code, theoretically safe by default, generated by an AI. Although this service is not being liked by many, since they accuse the AI of using code from their projects without permission, Microsoft and GitHub do not cease their development. And, very soon, the way of programming is going to change forever.
As its name suggests, this new feature will allow programmers to program with their voices through an assistant similar to Alexa or Google Assistant. In this way, instead of having to write the code by hand, or give Copilot a written instruction to generate the code for us, it will suffice to give it a voice command so that, in a matter of seconds, we can have the code already written. and ready to compile.
Thanks to this new feature, developers will be able to move freely through the code using only voice commands, in addition to generating the instructions and lines of code they need for their projects. They can also even use these voice commands to run programs, debug, compile… whatever we want. The only thing that is up in the air is whether you can also add comments to the code using your voice.
Although it may seem that giving instructions with your voice may not be relevant, and it does not contribute anything that we cannot do with a conventional keyboard and mouse, this innovation represents a great evolution in terms of accessibility. Thanks to GitHub Copilot, anyone with limited mobility will be able to program freely using just their voice.
Availability and limitations
The main limitation that we can find right now for this new function is that it is only available for Visual Studio Code. If we use any other programming environment, or IDE, we won’t be able to make use of this new feature, although Microsoft has promised that it will soon come to other popular IDEs as well.
Also, remember that GitHub Copilot is not a free tool. In order to use this AI, it is necessary to pay a fee of $10 per month , or $100 per year, in order to have full access to all the programming AI, as well as all the functions that we may need in our day-to-day work. programming.
Regarding availability, at the moment GitHub has it in beta phase, with no expected release date, so we will have to wait to be able to program with voice as this tool promises us. However, if we are very interested in testing this novelty, we can request access to the trial version from the following link .
When it reaches its final phase, it will be available to all VisualStudio Code users who pay the Copilot fee, at no additional cost.