GitHub Copilot and the Future of Software Development

Introduction

• Speaker: CEO of GitHub
• Personal anecdote on love for LEGO
• Comparison of LEGO and software development

GitHub and Its Mission

• Home of coding
• Mission: Making development easy for all
• Contrast: LEGO vs. Building software

Evolution of Programming Languages

• Early 1940s: Plankalkül (world's first programming language)
  • Numbers, bubbles, brackets
• 1960s: COBOL
  • Importance in financial institutions
  • Some familiar words but still complex
• 1991: Python
  • Popular in AI
  • Progress: bubbles, brackets, bits of English

The Breakthrough of AI in Coding

• June 2020: Early access to OpenAI's GPT-3
  • Solved 93% of programming exercises
  • Led to creation of GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot

• AI assistant for developers
• Predicts and completes code
• Most adopted AI developer tool

Copilot's Impact

• Ability to understand and interpret human languages
• Fusion of human and machine languages
• Enables anyone to create software with written prompts

Demonstration of Copilot Capabilities

• Example: Creating a 3D LEGO brick
  • Firstly code predictions in the editor
  • Introduction of Copilot Chat
• Speaking to Copilot in multiple languages
• Demonstration of building a LEGO house

Introducing Copilot Workspace

• Task-based interface replacing traditional editor
• Natural language input for tasks
• Specification generation and code implementation
• Live preview of creations

The Future of Software Development

• Current Developers: 100 million on GitHub
• Prediction: Over a billion developers by 2030
• Increasing accessibility and creativity in programming

Closing Thoughts

• AI's role: Copilot, not replacing developers
• Future developments will increase code block sizes
• Humans will still play a crucial role in system design and maintenance