Github Copilot makes me dull

23rd September 2024

The exact moment I realized this was when participating in a hackathon. I was tired and writing some Javascript function. It was near the finish, so I just started accepting all of GitHub copilot's suggestions while not really focusing. A few minutes later after I regained my focus, I saw the garbage code I had generated, that I now have to go back and debug. It would have been better if I simply wrote it properly the first time. Even though I was aware of copilot's flaws, pressing tab to autocomplete was too easy.

Learning a new programming language with copilot needs to be done with caution. While you may understand the high level concepts, tab to autocomplete is too incredibly easy, you may not remember how to write a for loop without copilot. I believe the best approach is to have a convenient shortcut to enable and disable GitHub copilot. Turn it on only when writing boilerplate code. Use chat to explain parts, rather than tab to autocomplete. This way, your skills will remain sharp.