I completely agree that copilot is dangerous to new developers as it doesn't teach you how to code, it just codes for you. However, for more experienced developers I can see the appeal with regards to writing simple or repetitive code with ease.

To each his own. I pay for it. And love it. It saves me so much time from having to type in boiler plate code. As for the CoPilot suggestions, I review them and even learn from them. If somebody is blindly trusting them, then it is their fault and not that of the tool.

As a senior developer, it's similar to doing pair-dev. Sometimes you get good suggestions you forgot to consider. Also it's very helpful in repetitive tasks.

Completely agree. That is why I only code assembly in Notepad. Wouldn't wanna get hooked on this fancy new IDE's and compilers. insert sarcasm here...

One think you didn’t mention is that it will be free with the GitHub student pack. I think it’s a terrible idea to be honest, I have some mates that have done entire assignments with it and became totally dependent by it

Honestly it seemed like a helpful little tool for some game dev I was doing, it could adapt to the code that I already wrote and recommend based on it. It sometimes saves me from going down a rabbit hole of a bad code idea when it recommends the better option to go about something. Which can make me learn something. (Altough I'm getting it for free since I got github student)

I was really impressed how you backed up whatever it was you said with examples directly from Copilot.

"Concerns which are now confirmed "

I've found it *incredibly* useful. Just as one example, I was writing some code to import Jira tickets from their XML dump into a C# class. The line of code it suggested for me was: t.Title = issue.Attribute("summary").Value; This was *exactly* the line of code I was going to write. The crazy thing is, *nowhere* in my codebase did I have the word "summary." I have no idea how it knew that there was an attribute in my XML called "summary" and that it should map to the title property. I assume it was somehow able to figure it out based on the fact that there are other repos that it was trained on that also were doing similar things with Jira? Not sure, but the point is, that's a nice time saver. I hit enter and then it suggested: t.CreatedDate = DateTime.Parse(issue.Attribute("created").Value); Yep! That was the NEXT line I would have written. Notice that it was smart enough to add the DateTime.Parse. I think it would be significantly more helpful for your viewers if instead of just saying "I didn't particularly care for it" you actually demoed it on some code you were writing. No edits. Just write some code and let it give you feedback and then you can explain what it is you don't like about it. Is it giving you completely off the wall suggestions? Is it slowing down your editor? Or...? That you would "never recommend it to anyone" is a pretty dogmatic conclusion. That is saying there is literally NOBODY in the world who could benefit from it? And yet, the only criticisms I see from you here is 1) you have to pay for it, and 2) new programmers might depend on a tool. Well, ok, but if I ask you how well an axe works and you tell me, "Well, I have to pay for the axe. Also, if you get used to using the axe, you might get dependent on it." OK, but how well does the axe actually *work* as a tool? I think in reviewing a tool it would be worthwhile for your viewers to actually see the tool reviewed per se rather than the "concerns" you have around that tool. :)

Have you ever worked on enterprise applications? How much time is wasted on boilerplate code, refactoring, writing unit tests, etc? An AI can do any of those mundane tasks in seconds. Time is money. Of course you need to be on the ball to spot any errors it could make and you have to know how to prompt it to do what you need, which is a skill in and of itself, but it is certainly worth paying for.

GitHub Copilot made me sad from the start

"You're a dinosaur" -- typical response when criticizing an "easy button" that people have become reliant on. The problem with their mentality becomes, as you eluded to, dependency on said easy button....disconnect them from the AI and they can't code their way out of a paper bag -- but somehow you're in the wrong lol Great video, as was the last one.

Although I agree its not a great tool for new devs, and a bit of a crutch... it is great at what it is for, which is filling in the blanks when a human mind already stuffed with 10+ languages can't remember how to do a thing it has done 500 times before, or when your stuck working in a language you never much liked, fully understand the theory behind what you are doing, and simply don't want to relearn syntax for twenty lines of code. Also... honestly I consider 100$ a year to be the closest thing to free a service can be without being shady. Between the low price point and generous trial period I just see nothing wrong with the pricing model. I would have liked to see some kind of a free-teir left in for good, but I also can't really think of many features my ten bucks a month get me that you could shave off and still have a viable product. Its not unity, they can't price it based on the profits of finished products, and as much as github is all about the free exhange of information, ten bucks a month to write code for ya barely feels steep.

What are the CoPilot Alternatives?

Been using Tabnine for a while. It can be a bit aggressive with suggestions and takes a while to learn your coding style, but it's not bad. Free tier won't write long strings of code for you, but it speeds up repetitive tasks, and that's all I want.

Can you share you opinions on the other competitors?

I honestly don't see the isssue with depending on a tool that costs money. How many of us pay a shitload of money to Adobe or Jetbrains. Development is not free, on our part but also not on their part. As long as it brings more value than it costs, I think it's fine.

Yeah, it doesn't make you a better developer but it makes it super easy to quickly finish the repetitive / boring work . I still didn't get your point about not paying is it because of the freeish alternatives or do you not like to pay for the tools that lead to an enormous dependency and make it hard to work without them?

I came here looking to hear your opinion on CoPilot and to me it's important to hear the negative parts when I decided whether or not to pay for a product. But this was useless. What are the reasons you don't like it? The only argument I hear is that it costs money. But that's not an argument (and I don't think that's what you meant). Paying for a tool that could potentially increase my productivity is a no-brainer. If I, as a working programmer, could get help just once a week to write some code that saves me half an hour, this tool is worth the money. So the important part isn't that it now costs money. The important part (that I hope you make a video about) is why it isn't a good tool for you.

I think some of these things are nitpicks. For one thing, if you've used it for free for a year and it's become an essential part of your workflow then is it the end of the world to have to pay ten bucks a month for it?

For the price of a meal you can save hours on repetitive code and suggestions can actually help a new programmer learn from its suggestions given you don’t just auto complete but actually analyze each suggestion. I personally think many underestimate how useful an AI companion can be and how widespread it’s usage will be.

I've been programming for a few years. I've heard of Autopilot from all my co workers but I never tried it for the same reason. The idea of being dependent on a tool then having to pay a high price which i thought would degrade my progression as a developer is why I've never tried it. However, I was just coding and finding myself writing a lot of repetitive code which now feels a bit mundane and time consuming. I have all these ideas about how to structure an app but realize it takes so long to code the models, database architecture, and templates that I'm starting to see the appeal of a helping hands so I can invest more time on developing infrastructure and less time implementing it. I think I'm going to give it a try.

Wait a second. Are you saying that : Github (Microsoft) built and released an Artificial Intelligence tool. Had *millions* of users use it for over a year. And in the meantime trained the AI even more with those users' codes and feedbacks. AND now they want the users to pay to use it? I mean... Doesn't that mean that Microsoft now has an Artificial Intelligence that can build an entire website just from a simple input like "Build me a website to sell flowers in Paris, in French language, use pastel pink colors, add a contact form and map" and it'll do it *perfectly* and within *seconds*? I'm not one for the conspiracy theories but if such an AI exists, I think it almost means that web developers will be obsolete once it's released (if it'll ever be released). It's like Microsoft has a nuclear weapon now. That's the most genius move I've ever seen. Well played Mr Nadella. I don't know if I should be mad or impressed.

I think it really depends a lot on what you're writing. For example I do a lot of React - the auto complete is super useful (assuming I know roughly what I want) and saves a lot of tedious map/filter work trying to remember how it all works. It is also super good at knowing what you want to write e.g. case 1 = 1, it will then do case 2 = 2 and so forth (not the greatest example admittedly but gives you a flavour). For me it's just indispensable these days but each to their own - I do admit though that it will reduce my overall skill as a developer when most of the time it knows what I want to do.

I think i'm in the same boat. I had reservations right from the start, and now just 'nope'. As you said, i feel like it would make be a bad programmer.. or at the least, it would stunt my learning/improvement. If it could completely write the boring code for me, then i'd be impressed. lol

I think copilot is a nice stack overflow plugin

If you're not paying, you're the product.

What are the chances of me uploading and copyrighting my code in github and then reusing it with sub accounts without copyright to be picked up by copilot and joining this class lawsuit for some juicy $$$?

What I like about M$, is that it is an easy choice, that is always no. :-)

As an experienced dev. And especially as a game dev, this is a MASSIVE time saver. Heck, so much of game dev is just writing code that does combinations of something a million people have done before. Unit Tests also, it's so so important, yet it takes a while to write, and having a bot that gets you 80% of the way gives you ALOT. Game jams with throw away code? YES, Debug code? Bingo bingo. Should this be used as a learning tool. DEFINTLY NOT, should it be used by an experienced dev, who is highly critical of everything it spits out. Yes.

GitHub copilot, "First taste is free.... "

Agree with all your points. Somehow none of them affect me specifically. I don't pay anything since I'm a graduate student. It saves me a lot of time from tedious googling and debugging of code that wasn't going to improve my knowledge anyway. Most of its suggestions are from my pre-existing code and repositories. I never blindly accept anything it suggests. Lastly, it has actually reduced some of my stress over the past few months ever since I've started using it. At this point, I seriously won't mind paying for it even after I graduate. What's wrong in paying for something that provides a valuable service and justifiably needs resources for its maintenance ?

video on a review of the alternatives to copilot?

I'm glad that you made your position clear. As a rule, I avoid anything Microsoft touches like the plague. I have been burned too many times in the past by thinking that their products would increase my productivity, only to find that their APIs change constantly, their documentation doesn't match what the product actually does, and their products seem to be designed to exploit the developer as well as the developer's customers. Too many times I've been in the position of having to explain, "no, sorry, this product doesn't do that, you will have to upgrade to another product", etc. Despite open source products being supposedly "more primitive", I've found that, over time, they are more flexible, expandable and reliable. That's my personal opinion. I don't care what anybody else says.

This is a problem I see a lot with coders. They forget the difference in skill between them and the average user. Coding is hard it is hard and time consuming to learn. An AI coding assistant is exstramly useful for people with low skill

I'm using it because.... Any doubts about copyright issues, just type @author or copyright in your Java code and generate a list of people you're stealing code from...

It rips, it is so amazing and everyone of any coding level should use it. It takes all the mundaneness out of coding for me!

i mean its only $10 at the end of the day

It saved me more than 10 dollars in time a month.

I love the idea, will be using

Copilot would have been terrific for me when I was learning - then again, I like it when my wife gives me spoilers on movies, it gives me a much better understanding of the movie, sooner

I agree... I used it for one month and after that, I couldn't write code for even simple things.

So, no real criticisms.

In regards to the cost only, for everyone saying 'its only $10'...I remember when gasoline was 'only $0.89/gal'. I remember when Netflix was 'only $5.99/mo'. Etc etc etc.. So now one day in the future you will say Damn, I remember when Copilot was 'only $10/mo'. This is Microsoft we are talking about, do you really think they are you buddy? If they are not taking your money, then they are taking your freedom, else they are taking your soul..Like the old saying goes cash, grass or ass...nobody rides for free! ;)

I disagree completely. For the price of a chicken sandwich a month, you get an assistant that WRITES code for you! Often times the SAME exact code you were going to write!

The only negative is that’s it’s so expensive. I don’t understand how they’re charging the over $10, that’s insane. It’s a good tool, not $10 a month good.

I love what AI could become. however I do find many of your points to be reasonable, and something ppl should definitely keep in mind when considering/using the service. I'm not surprised they ditched any possibility of a free version. The amount of resources, handwear, energy, research, maintenance, storage facility, building rental/tax and who knows what else goes into such a huge project, while still expanding and innovating on it must be HUGE. but there is a bright side. anyone who just wants to copy past is likely also stingy with their money, so will less likely produce AI copy past code that makes no sense, leaks all kinds of data and possibly takes several years off your devices lifespan XD

Heh, I actually went back and changed my downvote to an upvote on that old video before finding this one. You nailed it. At the time I took it as whining about new tech.

It seems the MS marketing team took their inspiration from the drug dealer business model. Free until you get dependent, then up the price. If you are happy with $10/month now you can bet the price will increase next year. As the cast of Grange Hill said "Just say no". (obscure UK cultural reference.....)

When Copilot was first announced, I read its service agreement. It said Copilot sends your source code to their server for evaluation. While this makes sense for what Copilot is meant to do, it can also violate the terms of a non-disclosure agreement. Since I'm a freelancer and regularly sign these for work, Copilot was a no-go for me. So be careful with these kinds of coding aids.

Nice video, and nicely done in your new format :) Thanks for all your videos EM!

I could be interpreting this incorrectly, but I feel like quite a few of the people saying you're a dinosaur below are missing the actual point you were trying to make - it's not that the technology is bad, it's not. It's the way it was positioned... A bit of a bait and switch - there were no publicly available intentions reasonably established before the rug was pulled.

the switch up was a bit sheisty..... maybe there are some open source alternatives available

Honestly, I prefer the old video format. Like, a lot more

copilot x has entered the chat

Yeah I'd never use it. I'm an senior android developer and I just don't see any use cases for me. Also to anyone suggestion it helps with repetitive boring work what are you talking about? If it is boiler plate code you most likely are just copying it from somewhere else in your code or from the documentation.

the only good thing copilot will do imo is that in the future it will for sure be integrated or assisting IntelliSense, everything else, trash

I never like coding tools like this, the downside is just too high. Not only does it harm learning, but in my experience it risks embedding anti-patterns

I think that Microsoft is the last company anyone should expect anything free from. I thought your first video was good. This video just hammers the nail home. I never thought of using it because all AI need training, and I don't want to train it. If GitHub was not the Facebook of Git, I would probably not use it either. I know of the alternatives. They are not as easy for newbies to come grab your blog tutorial materials.

The main benefit I see from copilot (having used it daily for a few months) is its great at pattern recognition within code, and for commenting existing code as well. For me its not so much a crutch, but a massive timesave. A lot of the time I can type out a block of code, and wait a couple seconds for it to generate the next (similar) block. Its also really good for using new small packages to do something quick without having to look towards Stackoverflow or in the docs. I get that it can become a dependency for developers, but I'm not sure if there are any free offerings that rival it at all. If a developer feels like it saves them massive amounts of time, then its worth the money. If they don't feel that way, then they can learn to live without it. Just because you get dependent on something, doesn't mean you can't become independent of it as well (just requires you to change your workflow). Its a tool, not a drug 😂

all the criticism at the beginning is true, AI abstractions are inevitable

I really don't get the concern... we do pay for features that helps us on our day-to-day development tasks... like IDE features and other tools... but I tend to agree it should be used by non-experienced developers.

Totally agree

(context, been working as a software engineer for 1 year) I gave it a shot for a week, was really underwhelmed with its suggestions. In the 40 hour week I had it installed, I don't think I used a single suggestion except for pretty standard autocompletion/typehinting that the IDE can do without copilot. I also found it pretty distracting. It reminded me of someone talking over you or trying to slip in comments between your sentences, throwing off your train of thought. Even if the concerns in this video weren't supported, I still wouldn't recommend it.

Don't be a developer if you don't like to solve problems by using your own brain, without AI.

Dinossaur

I like to say that AI going to replace your job. It's only going to replace your job if you don't use AI.

This doesn't make sense. It is like I wont use IDE I will use vi with all the plugins installed. Also it helps in coding like IDE does. And if it wants a fair amount of money so be it I am a developer and it is frustrating how everyone wants everything for free but wants a company to pay theM when they work for the company. If you do not like it don't use it but don't say it is not good because it does the same thing it says and for the last 1 year it is doing well.

Srsly? We are using tools and licenses that costs thousands of dollars and your concern is a 10$ plugin that speeds of programming in a way that i ve never seen in 40years! Stupid repetitive work done with hammering the tab key. Merging code by writing pseudocode.

One day ms will remove both tab autocompletion and tab operator.

As some one that's been an IT manager and has dabbled in programming as a beginner dev I can say the times I have asked questions or posted in your discord there is no help to be handed out or advice even after linking studies and or articles. Basically the only response is if you don't know then maybe you should learn. Well I can say this video is you breathing hot hair because a company accomplished what you couldn't! To be fair I unsubscribed years ago after all my calls for help were ignored and this video was recommended

I've seen copilot. I am not against it, I am also not against that it is a payed service. I just wouldn't recommend it at all. You learn programming by doing the job of programming, you don't learn it if everything you do is just copy paste.

Why is the fact that its paid such a big deal for you? For instance jetbrains products are excellent yet paid.

Microsoft always does that.

you expect things to be free?

I think it's also important to view it from the perspective of learning something new. Would I use it for something I'm already a master at? Very rarely if at all. Would I use it for learning a new language I can't even write a for loop in? Absolutely.

I don't really see any of the criticism. If you depend on it 10$ are very worth it. Not using it because of a monthly fee seems highly irrational if can safe you hours of typing every day. Down vote from me, seems to be an extra strong position just to have a controversial video.

I'm not convinced by your first arguments. It's not gonna make people better programmers, but it's not going to make them worse either. If you're a good programmer, a tool like this will help you write code faster, and possibly even more efficient code. We all get dependent on higher level software that takes care of smaller tedious things, yes. How is this a bad thing though?

Try it for a month and tell me it’s not good.

To be honest it sounds like you have something against Microsoft or one actor of copilot in particular, your arguments were really weak. It makes a lot of sense for them to make their product paid after a year, as you said they need to be profitable. How could this even be discussed and criticized? It’s the strongest point if your video yet it’s so meaningless, I’m confused. I thought you would talk about code privacy, what copilot is doing with your code, licenses infrigement etc. Disappointed

To be honest, if it was free I wouldn't mind it. When I tried it, it did help me with a lot of repetitive stuff, even comments were populated with great context with very little to edit, it did save me a lot of time using it on many things including my Japanese homework (surprisingly). Now, if I was just learning to code, this tool would only hurt on the long run.

As an ex-automation engineer I don't trust any automatization :) I use Vim for coding in Python and shell (bash) scripts. I use terminal for almost everything but KZfaq. Thus, I don't use github copilot

Be lazy. Any tool that speeds up your work, is valuable. The questions are how much time does co-pilot save you a month, how much is that time worth, and is there a better option. I don't think becoming dependant on a tool is a bad thing. That is like being dependant to an elevator as oppose to the stairs. Sure you might be more fit if you always took the stairs, but in our short time on the planet, the elevator is useful. This video was a bit long and repetitive. I am not sure Co-pilot implied there would be a free version. I myself would prefer the community improve the open source alternatives. I also would rather you tell us better options, instead of rambling and repeating yourself for 6 minutes. This could have been a 30 second video.

I agree to all you points but the thing is that the developer who is going to write bad code through the utilization of copilot is exactly the same developer who would write the same bad code just with the few extra steps of going to stackoverflow and copy-pasting code. Still i think just like you that for the amount of money that you have to pay it does not provide the extra value to go for it.

I don't agree. Copilot results are 50% garbage 40% OK but there is a 10 % that is pure black magic. I gladly pay for something I tested and found really useful. After all not everything is open source and good efforts need to be payed in order for us developers to be able to find good high payed jobs.

You shouldn't focus on negative biased comments. I think we work the same, you have a real engineer spirit and you don't blindly follow tech trends: you analyze then make your choice, what is everybody should do to prevent badly coded applications developed by tutorial masters.

copilot is the peak of AI autocomplete i happily spend 10 a month for it since in the long run it saves me weeks of research and faster development time for 10 which i spend every day on food thats really a bargin, i was ready to pay 25 if they asked for deffo use it dont listen to t res in the video xD im joking but yea, i highly suggest you use it its the best tool ever to be created in the last 5 years in all of tech

I agree. Even a plugin like TabNine gets in the way of writing code that you need to write and understand yourself. It's a bad thing for people learning the craft. When I started my Rust journey, it seemed helpful but didn't let me organically understand the code I was producing and often hindered my progress.

That's not an argument about the quality of the service. That's just you not wanting to pay for things. This is a weak argument. I expected this video to be a critique of the technology and its capabilities. If you prefer other alternative products, which ones? I want to use great tools to write good programs, not save a Subway sandwich of money every month.

Obviously copilot is trash. Never used it, never looked at it. But I was obsessed with AI throughout under-/ postgrad studies. My intuition is solid. Guaranteed no real engineer is using it. It‘s all beginners and mediocre developers who side-hustle on youtube selling trash tutorials to beginners. The only guys I‘ve heard talk about it in my professional life are 2 ex-army vets who did coding bootcamps and are now starting out doing light frontend work for us.

Downvoting this video for mentioning "other options" and "competition" but not naming a single one.

I never used it. I am newer so I stayed clear of it and I am glad i did. You can probably do the same in BLOOM and it is free.

open ai just die to plans lol

this yter is just scared of getting unemployed soon.

Ofc it will be paid, who would work for free..

Thanks for the vid , forgot to cancel my test version. You saved me 10 EUR :)

When you talk about "dependency", does that include writing in modern languages like javascript, python, or C++? All of them are "dependent" and allow a developer to be able to produce computer programs or web programs that function without them having to learn Assembly. Shit, most developers don't understand how the silicon is molded into the wafer on the CPU. People are so dependent! Yes, copilot can do some neat things in isolation, but it can't actually build you a full-stack application or solve complex problems. Again, just like python creating a great way for people to "depend" on dynamic typed languages, they allow people to move further, faster, and do more. Why is it necessary for people to learn "core"/"fundamental" things if it's not necessary for what they need to do? Just to reach an imaginary ideal? My core point: AI-assisted coding is arguably an unavoidable evolution forward, just like calculators were. people use calculators because they work and make it so you don't have to do math, or even understand it. that works out well for society, generally, since people's math skills aren't the best, but calculators are on every device now. what if everyone can do and create the things that took us years to learn without them having the learn the things we had to, also? Is that really a problem with how things are evolving?...... or an intrapersonal one?

Don't listen to all the haters EM. Being a lazy programmer is not a good enough reason to use Github Copilot.

I STAND with you my E Man! 👏🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

I get your point and totally support it. but when you say don't use this.. maybe give some alternatives that are free? So people don't bitch and nag at you in the comments. You take away their ammo so to speak :)