What is GitHub Copilot?
1. What is GitHub Copilot?
Hi, and welcome to the course! I'm thrilled to be your host through this journey.2. The roadmap to power user
Whether you've already experimented with GitHub Copilot or you're brand new to it,3. The roadmap to power user
this course is your roadmap to becoming a GitHub Copilot power user.4. Course learning objectives
By the end of this course, you'll be able to:5. Course learning objectives
Understand what GitHub Copilot is and how it can support your development workflow.6. Course learning objectives
Use different ways of interacting with Copilot to understand, write, and improve code.7. Course learning objectives
Provide better context to get more accurate and helpful responses.8. Course learning objectives
Boost productivity with features that streamline common development tasks.9. Course learning objectives
Customize and extend Copilot to fit your individual or team needs.10. GitHub Copilot in action
Let's start with a quick reality check. When most developers think of Copilot, they picture this… "A smart autocomplete tool that finishes your loops, guesses your function signatures, and fills in boilerplate code." And yes—that's how it started. But that was just the beginning. If you've only seen Copilot suggest the following line of code, you've only seen about 10% of what it can do. The other 90%? That's where things get interesting.11. What is GitHub Copilot?
So, what exactly is GitHub Copilot? It's an AI-powered coding assistant that helps you understand, write, and refactor code using natural language prompts.12. The GitHub Copilot collaboration spectrum
Let's explore how two developers may approach the same tool, with dramatically different results.13. The autocomplete workflow in action
Alex treats Copilot like a fancy autocomplete tool. His workflow is simple: Write a comment, hit tab, accept the suggestion, and so on… This works great for boilerplate code and simple functions.14. Using a vague prompt in the chat
But when Alex tackles complex features,15. Using a vague prompt in the chat
he tends to go for a vague prompt, and the cracks show:16. Vague prompts, weak results
Copilot loses track of the broader context,17. Vague prompts, weak results
it implements features Alex never requested,18. Vague prompts, weak results
code quality becomes inconsistent across the project,19. Vague prompts, weak results
and Alex spends more time debugging and refactoring than building.20. Result: frustration
The result? Frustration.21. Result: frustration
Alex often abandons Copilot's suggestions and starts over, hoping for better luck the second time.22. Working with Copilot as a coding partner
Sam takes a fundamentally different approach. She views Copilot as a coding partner that needs the right information to succeed. For example, she:23. Working with Copilot as a coding partner
Shares enough context to keep Copilot grounded,24. Working with Copilot as a coding partner
breaks down complex tasks into smaller, focused steps,25. Working with Copilot as a coding partner
builds on each response instead of starting from scratch,26. Working with Copilot as a coding partner
and chooses the right tools and modes to match the task at hand.27. Providing context, constraints, and clarity
The difference? Sam treats Copilot like she would a junior developer,28. Providing context, constraints, and clarity
giving it the context, constraints, and clarity it needs to produce quality code. And that's exactly what you're going to learn in this course!29. What can GitHub Copilot do?
So what can Copilot do when you unlock its full power? Here are some examples:30. What can GitHub Copilot do?
It can explain legacy code by analyzing what a complex, undocumented file does and summarizing it in plain English.31. What can GitHub Copilot do?
It can refactor your codebase, restructuring your project's design across multiple files while maintaining functionality.32. What can GitHub Copilot do?
It can debug and fix bugs by walking through error traces, identifying root causes, and proposing targeted fixes.33. What can GitHub Copilot do?
It can write test suites covering edge cases and different scenarios.34. What can GitHub Copilot do?
It can even help with deployment workflows, CI/CD pipelines, and cloud configurations.35. Let's practice!
Now that you understand the high-level capabilities of GitHub Copilot, let's get started!Create Your Free Account
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