GitHub Copilot for Software Engineers

Courses on GitHub Copilot for Software Engineers focus on maximizing developer productivity by leveraging AI-assisted coding. These courses typically cover the following key areas:

1. Fundamentals and Setup

• Installation and Configuration: Setting up GitHub Copilot in popular Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like VS Code or JetBrains IDEs.
• Basic Code Suggestions: Understanding how inline code completion works and accepting suggestions.
• Responsible AI: Introduction to the ethical and operational considerations, including potential risks, and best practices for responsible AI use in development.

2. Prompt Engineering and Interaction

• Effective Prompt Crafting: Learning techniques to write descriptive and well-scoped comments and prompts to get the most relevant and high-quality code suggestions (e.g., the “4S Method”).
• Contextual Awareness: Understanding how Copilot uses the context of your open files, code structure, and variable names to generate better suggestions.
• GitHub Copilot Chat: Using the chat interface within the IDE or on GitHub.com to ask questions, explain code, generate commands, and refine requests using various agents and slash commands (e.g., /explain, /fix).

3. Advanced Features and Use Cases

• Refactoring and Documentation: Utilizing Copilot to improve code readability, refactor existing segments, and generate comprehensive documentation and code comments.
• Testing with Copilot: Using the tool to generate boilerplate code for tests, create unit tests, and write assertions.
• Debugging and Fixing Errors: Getting suggestions for error explanations and proposed fixes for problematic code sections.
• Multi-File Edits (Copilot Edits/Agent Mode): Using advanced features to implement changes or new features across multiple files autonomously from a single natural language prompt.
• Copilot CLI: Leveraging Copilot in the command line for generating terminal commands and interacting with Git/GitHub.
• Security and Safeguards: Understanding features like content exclusions, duplication detectors, and security checks.

Microsoft Learn and Coursera offer structured training, such as the “Introduction to GitHub Copilot” course on Coursera and the “GitHub Copilot Fundamentals” learning path on Microsoft Learn, which can lead to a certification. These resources are excellent for developers aiming to integrate Copilot into their professional workflow.

The video below offers practical tips and tricks for making the most of GitHub Copilot in your IDE.

Getting started with GitHub Copilot | Tutorial