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, the programmers reduce their development times and obtain a better code, in theory safe by default, generated by an AI. Although this service is not being to the liking of many, since they accuse the AI of using, without permission, code from their projects, Microsoft and GitHub do not stop developing it. And, very soon, the way of programming is going to change forever.
As its name suggests, this new feature will allow programmers program with voice 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 be enough to give him 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 will also even be able to use these voice commands to run programs, debug, compile… whatever we want. The only thing that is up in the air is whether it will also be possible to add comments in the code using the voice.
Although it may seem that giving instructions with the voice may be something of little relevance, and it does not provide anything that we cannot do with a conventional keyboard and mouse, this novelty represents a great evolution in terms of accessibility. Thanks to GitHub Copilot, anyone with reduced mobility will be able to program freely using only 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 will not be able to make use of this new feature, although Microsoft has promised that it will soon reach other popular IDEs as well.
Also, remember that GitHub Copilot is not a free tool. To be able to use this AI it is necessary pay a fee of 10 dollars a monthor 100 per year, to be able to have full access to all the programming AI, as well as all the functions that we may need in our day-to-day programming.
As for availability, at the moment GitHub has it in beta phase, with no scheduled 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.
