GitHub Copilot for Eclipse: AI-supported code completion
Microsoft is bringing GitHub Copilot into the Eclipse IDE –, but currently only with AI-supported code completion. An intelligent chat is to follow.
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- Dr. RĂĽdiger Berlich
Microsoft has released a public preview of GitHub Copilot for Eclipse. The AI-supported assistant provides intelligent code suggestions. However, the intelligent chat, which is particularly helpful for day-to-day work, is still missing. The configuration options are also currently limited.
In a short test, the code completion worked without any problems for Python, LaTeX and C++. The website for the Eclipse plug-in lists other supported languages, such as Java, PHP and C#. As usual, the suggestions can be accepted with the Tab key or rejected with Esc. Suggestions can also be requested manually via Ctrl + Alt + / (on PC) or Option + Command + / (on Mac).
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The comments in the Eclipse Marketplace indicate that the GitHub team is currently working on AI chat: "Chat will be next." It is expected that this will also make it possible to choose the model, as is common in other IDEs.
The installation is carried out as usual via the Eclipse Marketplace and is described in detail there. An active GitHub Copilot license is required; a free trial version is available.
The workshop Programming more productively with Github Copilot and ChatGPT shows how GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT can simplify and accelerate the creation of code. Under guidance, participants work directly with the tools and use GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT in their development workflows. They will learn how to implement the OpenAI REST API in various programming languages such as .NET, Python and JavaScript/TypeScript in order to use the possibilities of ChatGPT in their own projects. In addition, the course introduces you to the world of embedding and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) design.
Eclipse, which is now over 20 years old, is still regarded as a core development tool, especially in companies and open source projects. However, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2024, other IDEs such as Visual Studio Code, JetBrains Clion or PyCharm are now more popular. GitHub Copilot has been available for these with extensive functionality for some time. With the Copilot integration, Eclipse now also has access to the AI world.
Further information can be found on the GitHub blog.
(mma)
