The Truth About the Copilot Changes

Copilot impressed me when I first tried it. Since then, it's changed a lot. What do I think of these changes, in particular the VS Code experience? Let's talk about it
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S/O Ph4se0n3 for the awesome edit 🙏

[@texoport]

The biggest issue with all the new copilot features for me is how I can never remember to actually use them.

[@levi2408]

cue copilot for copilot

[@MansaMusa_ll_of_Timbuktu]

Yeah, and the code completion popping up while typing distracts me tbh. Not sure if you can turn it off, but I’d rather use the custom GPT-4 for tackling specific problems and just give it context to my GitHub repo with a link. I can already do this (not in vscode) but the problem is it sometimes “forgets” previous information or just doesn’t use the complete context of the app so I have to remind it “hey I’m using Vue and typescript” or “I’m using yarn” etc. And I absolutely DESPISE 2 things: 1) How slow/buggy the chat is the bigger it grows, as soon as I load a new chat the problem goes away, but I loose all context 😢 and you can’t share context between chats 👎🏾 2) Why can I not COLLAPSE THE CHATS, I feel like I’m scrolling 48% of the time I’m using the darn thing, waiting for a response 18% of the time, and waiting for the ui to stop freaking out and be usable like 34% of the time. I’m done ranting, thanks chatgpt tho, you’ve still somehow made my job easier

[@Imjoshnewton]

Maybe you’re forgetting to use them because they’re not that useful?

[@metalwarrior6657]

Exactly

[@favouritejome]

😅

[@cpakken]

copilot's inline chat feature that show diff changes is a good compromise between the chat and autocomplete. I find that most useful.

[@matt_hart]

i was going to say something similar. what i like about the inline chat feature is you don't have to make a comment to try and make it figure out what you want it to code next, you can just prompt it. but it still codes right where your cursor is like normal copilot. it's not a separate window with a full text response and code examples that you have to copy paste and edit with your variables etc. and the fact that you can have it edit already existing code inline and show the diff instead of it only being able to generate new code is also very useful.

[@ridass.7137]

@@parkourbee2right click anywhere in the code or specific line > Copilot > …

[@joelv4495]

My only issue with those (and ya it's nitpicky) is that the imports wind up at the bottom of the file.

[@jnevercast]

That sounds like a bug, becaue Copilot Inline Chat is meant to lift all imports to the top. Perhaps worth raising that issue with the Copilot team.

[@lukeinderwick5951]

I've been using co-pilot chat for about 2-3 months now and find it absolutely invaluable. As a junior dev it's like having a senior dev I can quickly ask questions. Maybe there's some bad code i've written that I want advice on how to improve, that's not something the inline co-pilot can help with. For me it's not about writing code faster, it's about learning how to be a better dev without leaving IDE, which means I can get back to coding faster.

[@e4caspnet]

Interesting take. For me its the other way around. As a senior dev, I can give CoPilot or GPT some work instructions and get 90% working code, So I treat it like I would a junior dev. Be explicit about what you want, the inputs you are giving and the steps you expect to see. the quality of the results is very much dependent on the quality of the prompts.

[@blueboy4625]

copilot is the reason why i still don't know how to program a for loop

[@no_name4796]

At least on that, you are on par with the 21 haskell programmers 🤣

[@nickwoodward819]

I thought that was a requirement for a FE dev? I actively forgot it.

[@Exilum]

I'm more excited about the experimental features about copilot that would allow it to propose changes in several places at once or on another line than your cursor is on. I've found that when modifying boilerplate, I often place my cursor, delete a space and press space again to trigger copilot to autocomplete an obvious line that follows the pattern of something I've done several times before. If Copilot can learn to propose to me all these changes altogether after I changed 1/2 things, it'd be great.

[@maxijonson]

I think this will make open source contribution much more easier and accessible! One of the things I feel deters me from contributing so much to big open source projects is the fact that I don't know where to start in the giant codebase. Now, I can ask questions to Copilot to "scope" my efforts into the general right place to do so!

[@noone-ld7pt]

So damn true! For my personal projects I don't see this feature adding much, but lowering the bar of entry for open source projects is an incredibly application and could really open it up to a lot of people!

[@Trucidare]

The most useful thing for me with Copilot chat is getting it to write unit tests in my work's Laravel codebase. Hardly have to make huge changes to the tests it generates

[@friction5001]

i hope this works for jest testing 🙏

[@lkjhoiuy97yjhgghfyrthgvjhguty]

@@friction5001 It does, great for jest tests

[@konradhylton]

Its benefits while working with unfamiliar code-bases are obvious so I won't focus there. But for familiar environment, I actually end up using it a few times a week. For example I'm building a project using event driven architecture and using Copilot as a sounding board was surprisingly useful. It's like having another engineer in the room with you.

[@GabrielSoldani]

Aside from onboarding, I can see it being a useful companion for tracing down long code paths hunting a bug - the ones where you press “Go to implementation” and “Back” dozens of times. It might even find the bug for you. We’ve all experienced rubberducking, now you can do it with the duck talking back.

[@Dzejes]

That is honestly the best use of LLMs from my perspective. Rubber duck, that talks back, I can make some more creative work as well, ask questions about tools and delve deeper on my own with the answers. The code completion is fine, I guess, but is it the crucial part of the work? Bug hunting, or creating new functions - how much time we actually use keyboards?

[@omenworks]

It's great for learning. I am starting my journey and it saved me a lot of time going and googling also being able later to prompt it how to do something in the context of my project is great.

[@KerimWillem]

I’ve been messing around with it for some days now and like you said, it’s very convenient for learning new codebases. Besides that, I am using it more and more because it’s easier to chat with gpt-4 directly in my editor. It automatically copies the code I need without me having to copy paste it, and being able to using the /explain command when I select some code with control + I is also very useful.

[@kr30000]

The chat has been helpful for me in some specific contexts. I recently had to make changes to a legacy PHP app across many files. I'm not a PHP dev and was not at all familiar with the codebase, so it was helpful for navigating and understanding the code.

[@jamonh]

I got really hyped about Copilot in late 2021, and was met with tons of skepticism. So cool to see how it's been adopted across the industry.

[@callistusa]

Love that take on the getting in the way, agree with the productivity loss for sure.

[@arieheinrich3457]

You can use the chat option inline in your code, but if you are getting 100 lines as a suggestion, ofc you need to scroll it in a smaller area. the voice is very nice for accessibility but also typing slightly complex requests and re-requests can take slightly longer

[@clipartinc]

I really enjoy the chat! It's like having an assistant right next to you.

[@_briantravis]

hey Theo love your content, been binging recently! can you share what your vs code color theme is?

[@fenrir20678]

I don't use the chat window very often. But when I do it's most of the time usefull. Like generating a regular expression or writing some specific algorithm. I can also be quite useful for refactoring. It's a nice addition that's not really needed, but can be helpful sometimes. I like the inline chat though.

[@Migmir1313]

When I have some issue, It is very good to explain stuffs. I like the chat for explaining my errors.

[@DimaMolosnic]

The separate chat window is okey if you're using it for researching ideas for some existing code in the workspace. And sometimes get some additional documentation without switching to your web browser. Sometimes it can even give you the link to the direct documentation (At least for C# it could give me the links to MS docs) The real game changer for me was the inline chat feature. This became useful for generating boilerplate code that takes into consideration whatever code I selected + the additional rules/conditions I describe to it through the inline chat. Once it finished generating, I can inspect the changes and then if most of it seems like the thing I wanted, then I Accept it and edit the rest that it couldn't capture. I'm a fast typist, but when you must create at least 50 lines of boilerplate code and then add whatever conditions you need for your issue, the ability to write a short prompt for all that code is a time saver for me.

[@ProgrammingWithPax]

I understand that you don't like the flow of having to stop coding, to get results, but how else would you have those types of questions answered? It can predict code, and give you that in-line (which doesn't stop your coding), but when you have a question, or want to bounce an idea, how else would you do it other than having a place to ask things? (in turn stopping your coding). I feel the two can and should coexist. It's a different tool for a different type of task. Also, I really like the idea of voice. Typing up quality prompts can start to take up a fair amount of time (and I'm a fairly fast typer). I think voice could be an interesting way of working, where you mainly type up code, but then have an AI digital assistant that you can bounce ideas with and rubber ducky, by voice. Worth a try, it could be the future's workflow.

[@le_travie7724]

I agree with you. The chat breaks flow and it is sometimes frustrating to use. I find myself only resorting to it if I get frustrated with something I'm writing

[@flavioarantesdoamorimbarce95]

I really like the chat function. It is very helpfull specially to create unit tests and now i dont have to google around stuff i just ask the chat it gives me a decent reponse with the opened file context.

[@OffBy0x01]

I like being able to ask it to do stuff for me. For example if I've copied a simple react component example that I want to convert to SolidJS, Copilot can now handle that for me. It also makes bulk simple actions way faster - e.g. "Swap out all the solid icon variants for outline variants".

[@eduardstefan6833]

The one button next to the commit message is the best feauture IMO. The fact that I don't need to think about writing commit messages ever again is worth all the money.

[@violin245]

Started using co pilot this week . Have used a few autocompletes but 95% of it has been trash.

[@27sosite73]

ahhah yep

[@yankeedudlizz]

Do you mean copilot chat that is described in the video?

[@Rust_Rust_Rust]

Yes​@@yankeedudlizz

[@brod515]

@@Rust_Rust_Rust How can you say yes on someone else's behalf?

[@Rust_Rust_Rust]

@@brod515 Hive mind. Don't worry your species will soon reach this evolution step

[@helleye311]

The chat features are useful-ish for repetitive long bits of code. The inline suggestions rarely spit out anything accurate above 10 or so lines, seems like the chat can do it a bit better with the right prompt. But I agree, I rarely use it as well. It's neat for boilerplate that doesn't really work well with snippets, or for tests, but for normal development it's much faster to just type and sometimes get a few line skip from inline copilot.

[@plantAnOilTree]

I'd really appreciate hearing your perspective on using such tools as a new developer. Do you think it's detrimental to rely on them while you're still at the beginning of learning how to program?

[@smallbluemachine]

I don't know, but having over a decade in C++, there's still things I don't use, know or care about in C++ that it's able to "update" my code on, more often enabling it to become more compact. HOWEVER, I expect this to have the same effect as having an iPhone on my ability to do basic math in my head and remember more than 1 or 2 phone numbers.

[@brag-]

I've been using copilot chat in beta for months and the thing I use it for 90% of the time is - when I have a lint error in my code, right click on it and select 'Explain with copilot'. Copilot will then open the chat window, explain what the error is, why the error is likely occuring - and offer refactoring options, all in the same prompt. It's been AMAZING for sorting out type issues in TypeScript and keeping my development velocity high. Its reduced down the time it's taken me to fix errors MASSIVELY.

[@brag-]

The other main thing I use it for is to write unit tests - because I hate writing them.

[@thomassynths]

Thanks for being way more fair on ai tooling than primeagen is.

[@senorpoodles1755]

Primeagen is very disingenuous.

[@Vezill]

I tend to use chat more as a way to look up documentation on libraries I’m using while brainstorming how to approach a problem then anything else

[@MTSportfishing]

needing to try out these new fetures been using copilot and it has been a nice augmentation to my flow

[@kon-jakub]

It’s a really good tool to deliver hello world or „react component with counter” blazingly fast.

[@BorisCallens]

It's really helpfull when it is more about learning and less about code. Like building a yaml file for AKS for example. It's suspiciously good at azure stuff ;)

[@kubre]

Yes, this is why I just like copilot because it's just there where I have to stop and remember I need to use this. But there are certain things like code review I remind myself this exists and ask it glance over the code

[@AylaCroft]

I have been loving the @workspace element in chat. It's been so helpful all day. 😍 The ability to have it search my whole project and pulling up clickible explanations have been a godsend

[@ThingEngineer]

In my experience, the automatic context discovery pretty much sucks. Even when I try to direct it to the right area or file it often goes off into left field, looking at crap that actually causes the output to go in the wrong direction. Still, freaking love copilot. Although I do often still use a GPT 4 playground assistant because the context window is bigger and I actually seem to get better code results a lot of the time from there.

[@soverain]

What I use frenquently is the Copilot quick actions in VS Code. You can literally highlight a piece of code and ask Copilot to explain what the hell this snippet of code is doing.

[@ccj2]

Maybe I need to see some tips and tricks on how to use copilot because it definitely gets in my way. I'm excited about the chat feature though.

[@evgenipetkov1631]

I started programming in 1990. For me a real ground breaking feature was pressing F1 and getting help. Copilot is not ground braking and I think there is some cheating. Like the percentages of accepted code they show. They use several techniques to increase that. One is that you copy something and you go to where you will paste it and copilot shows it as a suggestion. Another thing is really obvious suggestions that would not really save you even 2 seconds, but I often accept them just for convenience. So if you really think about it it is not at all useful, a lot of it is pretending.

[@e4caspnet]

Love the Easter egg of CoPilot remining you to subscribe to the channel in the middle of the code instructions :)

[@slavaroikhel9464]

I'm using it all day!!! Autocompletes, simplifying and optimizing code.

[@Ripred0219]

So as it gets better at understanding codebases and implementing optimal solutions in the context of said codebase then I wonder at what point it will replace us

[@itsJimpex]

Would love to see you make a video on codeium (to my knowledge you don’t have one?)

[@chriscampbell2194]

Chat is good for security related issues and asking for understanding and fixes.

[@mateuszeiding403]

Copilot chat is probably more usefull for less experienced developers. I think the main idea is not to speed up the development but to have a source of - not always helpful/correct - knowlede. It may help with explanation why code doesn't work, crash etc. or help with implementation change/fixes.

[@BboyKeny]

Maybe this chat function could be nice to help with getting an idea. Especially for solo devs or with less experience. I could maybe see a usefulness in explaining a codebase and get new people started faster.

[@davidallred991]

I have taught myself to code this past year from a combination of YT and Chat GPT. So being able to ask questions is super important for me as a newbie but I did this all with ChapGPT before. I just installed CoPilot and have been trying out the new chat feature but I am not finding it more useful than ChatGPT itself yet. The one thing that is annoying about ChatGPT is that you are constantly copying and pasting code into your prompts so I thought this @workspace would be amazing for this, however I am finding that it often doesn't pick up the whole context or misses things which ends up giving bad or wrong answers I wouldn't have gotten had I used ChatGPT directly. It is a pain copying and pasting into ChatGPT but I still find this to be a more reliable solution for me at the moment. Probably because I can be much more specific and precise in what I want it to understand. Anyways, I am still a total novice but I am easily at least a year, if not two, ahead of where I would be if it wasn't for ChatGPT being able to help me understand concepts and explain very well when I am confused and to help give me more examples or go deeper into a concept that someone might have just blown over in a YT tutorial. It also helps me to do things I wouldn't be able to do completely on my own yet. I just developed a fairly complex chrome extension using Plasmo that I wanted to use that ties into my YT account through the YT data api. I wouldn't have been able to do this totally on my own, but also ChatGPT couldn't come close either. It is a combination of understanding code well enough to work with ChatGPT to get to where I want. So for now AI is still great tool for helping augment a human writing code, but wouldn't be super beneficial all on its own, it isn't nearly reliable enough yet and I see this only as newbie. Ironically, probably by the time I learn to write code well the AI that helped me get there will have made my skills completely useless.

[@_nikeee]

I think the chat is mostly useless. However, I think that automatic commit message generation is an anti-feature that everyone should avoid. When I’m reading the message later, not only do I have to consider that the AI was hallucinating, they aren’t even good commit messages. They mostly describe what was done, not how. I can see what was done based on the diff, so it doesn’t even add value besides making me think more. A „bad“ commit message that a human would type has the same value. But when AI comes into play, I have to assume that there maybe was hallucinating AI at play. What should be used instead is an AI for _reading_ commits. Adding information and stuff. Why? Because the AI will have more context (commits that came afterwards) to get more information out of the commit message. It can be at least as helpful as burning the message of some AI into the commit history. In fact, using an AI tool at a later stage _will_ yield better results, since the AI will get better and not be frozen in time when the commit was created. Same for PR descriptions. Please just don’t use commit message generation. Longer messages aren’t always better.

[@BruceWayne15325]

Interesting. I may have to give it a shot. I wasn't impressed with AI code generators last year, so I never played with them much. If it's improved enough, then maybe I'll check it out. Thanks for the video.

[@faraonch]

How to get auto completion when when I add an event listener and i need to get the according Typescript React type for the evt arg.

[@waelgh4307]

Workspace search is game changer, I hope they enhance the experience. 🎉

[@user-hb6yb6bu8n]

I'm fetching on the server with trpc but mutating on the client with react query, how do I revalidate data?

[@BarakaAndrew]

I agree with u 100%, autocomplete is the best feature, they should instead make that one better, eg press a key to give a different suggestion, or tab but only one line instead of the whole function

[@ws-bishop]

Thoughts on copilot vs jetbrains ai?

[@Sancarn]

Until copilot really understands code, instead of just autocompletion, copilot chat is going to be useless to me. I work in old legacy languages like VBA, I build all my solutions using a framework I built and even inside that workspace, copilot/chatGPT can't understand how to use any of my libraries, and ultimately hallucinates everything. A simple task such as "Map an array of numbers to an array where all items are multiplied by 2" it should generate something like `stdArray.Create(1,2,5).map(stdLambda.Create("$1*2"))` but instead generates code like `random.map(array, lambda.create("x", "x*2"))` which appears invented out of nowhere...

[@windyace]

okay sneaking in the youtube subscribe comment was too good to not comment about it

[@WorkSausage77]

What the heck. When I ask copilot what version it is, it says gpt 3.5 still. But it has access to features like @workspaces, etc. My colleague on the other hand has his working with gpt 4... Has anyone had this issue?

[@peteredmonds1712]

days since last "its no secret" intro: 0

[@cuafrancis88]

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 *🚀 Co-pilot has significantly improved coding efficiency and reduced tediousness for the speaker.* 00:43 *🔄 Co-pilot has undergone changes, including the addition of Co-pilot Chat, resembling Chat GPT, for code-related queries and interactions.* 02:12 *🛠️ Co-pilot now uses directives like "@workspace" to improve context understanding and provide more relevant code recommendations.* 03:50 *🏗️ Co-pilot effectively explains complex code structures like the "upload Builder type," aiding in understanding and documentation.* 05:02 *📦 Co-pilot provides step-by-step instructions for adding new code components, demonstrating its usability in practical coding tasks.* 07:36 *⏸️ The speaker prefers Co-pilot's in-line assistance over Co-pilot Chat, as the latter disrupts workflow by requiring interaction pauses.* 08:32 *🔄 The speaker feels that Co-pilot's recent features, like voice support, are more demo-oriented and less impactful on actual coding workflows.* Made with HARPA AI

[@GeorgeFlorian12]

How do you make it work properly though ? I am using Copilot in PyCharm and it's very bad. It doesn't do much more than a simple auto-complete. And the Copilot Chat is simply dumb and it can't access my project so it has no context at all. I am wondering what I am doing wrong...

[@PinguinoRodriguez-hd8bw]

Workspace almost never works for me. It either says it can’t access my code or just ignores it.

[@jdwspe]

Interviewer: "Without using copilot, write me a React component that increments a counter each time a button is clicked." Candidate: ...

[@larsfaye292]

Oddly enough, I prefer GPT4 over CoPilot, so I enjoy chat interfaces more. Until CoPilot's auto-suggestion is a toggleable feature (like a hotkey), it mostly just breaks my flow of thinking with it's suggestions. Sure, if I'm doing rote work it's nice, but usually when that happens I can simply put my request into a phrase and get back a full snippet to work from. Different flavors for different people!

[@sohn7767]

You can disable the the auto suggest and map it to a shortcut, takes a little of waiting though to get the response

[@mindget]

CoPilot completion and -chat are just two completely different tools in my opinion. The completion is fine for what it is, as you said. Accelerating your coding. However, CoPilot chat is just ChatGPT integrated into your IDE, which doesn't accelerate your coding per se, but replaces Google/stack overflow. So thinking about it interfering with your coding doesn't make sense, imho. For me it actually reduces the amount of time I have to spend outside of my IDE, because I don't need to leave for research.

[@thezanke]

There is a hot key to toggle co-pilot chat on mac its cmd+shift+i; this makes the loop a lot quicker. Also I think comparing copilot chat versus inline copilot is unfair; copliot chat is mostly a replacement for people alt+tabbing and going to ChatGPT to ask larger questions beyond a single line.

[@TokenArtist]

I guess it's obvious that the two features have different ideal situations where they're appropriate to use. I find that inline co-pilot can be really distracting when I know what I'm writing and it keeps popping up incorrect answers and derailing my thoughts. I can see myself turning off co-pilot and just using chat from time to time, when I don't expect to be doing any sort of boilerplate autocompletes.

[@dixztube]

King yella out here biting da cheese. 🐀

[@randomvideo4461]

recently copilot gave me an extract of my code different that what was written just beside in the editor. The fact that it is not 100% accurate will make it obsolete in the long run. Wére dealing with code it needs exactitude

[@ethr95awd]

i use the chat all the time for things i dont know - indispensable

[@SoreBrain]

I just finished a project in a programming language that I barely know thanks to Copilot chat

[@friction5001]

copilot really needed that chat feature with the addition of looking through the src directory, before that copilot was kinda useless and i preferred chatGPT.

[@Saltiola7]

Its why and how I became python programmer during the last months.

[@alibashir5359]

The chat feature is not available for everyone, that is probably the main reason I bought the copilot, I probably will buy chatgpt subscriptions

[@DanielMK]

If Copilot doesn't help you, maybe your code is not as readable as you think it is

[@marvnch]

This is a really good point. It's made my code much more readable having been using it since the beta first came out, I comment and use descriptive names liberally.

[@Rust_Rust_Rust]

It's a hit or miss. Sometimes really helpful especially for generic boilerplate stuff however for a lot of unique stuff still needs some thought process

[@kurt7020]

I have found it less useful for writing code, (excluding trival boilerplate) and more useful for quickly gaining familiarity with an unfamiliar code base.

[@Leto2ndAtreides]

Looks useful for when you're getting on a new project. Some teams... Aren't very helpful.

[@chrissalgaj4111]

what font is this?

[@apo2apoo]

I believe it's Geist Mono by Vercel

[@timvw01]

Legend has it that copilot is not profitable yet

[@RockTheCage55]

I’ll probably be like you play with it some but I can’t see myself using it. I would never use voice

[@zhanezar]

you are right i think people who start to code this way will be used to it , other who have not been doing a more "tradiotional " way will not really find much benefits. I do like how it explains things but it seems a bit top level and dosnt get into the details

[@MayJerCent]

Hello, Mr. Computer...

[@Skullamortis]

Theme name, please?

[@dejoma.]

Around 2:10 you mention, cannot send a big context with it. That is not entirely true anymore since the introduction of GPT 4 Turbo on the 11th of june. Model gpt-4-1106-preview now has around 128K tokens or 300 book pages worth of context,

[@NoRefund17]

I feel like copilot chat is more usefull for newer, less experianced devs that need more "learning" while they code also and less useful for S tier coders like you. Cause i find it very usefull and the talking helps me understand stuff better and learn.

[@arkadiuszbialeck325]

Jarvis coming soon

[@michaelchen8910]

When I ask copilot, "Can you describe X?", I want copilot to respond with "Can you write better code so I better describe it?"

[@nephis_2006]

When i have a question about a lib, chat is good

[@googleiscreepynanya5926]

“Traditional Chat GPT”

[@blackmirroxx]

I use it for debugging

[@loganlandonline]

i talk to my computer all the time

[@anubisai]

I wouldn't hire someone who doesn't use CoPilot to some capacity. You can get it to write tests and a heap of other things too. 🎉

[@AndrewEddie]

When you start getting arthritis in your fingers, you'll understand why voice commands take the edge off things :)

[@repe0]

example uses npm => into the trash it goes

[@chriscampbell2194]

I think you are missing the accessibility factor of copilot voice. Not everyone can use a keyboard.

[@joshxwho]

I find copilot useful for me when writing SQL, i can type like `lower(foo` and it will autocomplete to lower(foo) as foo, Less keys :)

[@googleyoutubechannel8554]

The first 3 minutes you hyped up copilot, then the rest of the video, you're showing why it isn't useful at all?

[@iavadin9601]

Subscribe? Naah man, lose the mustache first

[@jatiquep5543]

I prefer phind to copilot

[@michaeletzkorn]

2:11 as I understand it, copilot is still 3.5 turbo and not gpt 4

[@ShaharHarshuv]

"Traditional ChatGPT" this tech is only a year old and alread traditional 😂