What to know
- Some of the best AI tools for programming include OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Copilot GitHub, AlphaCode, Tabnine, Amazon’s CodeWhisperer, CodeT5, and Polycoder.
- Depending on your coding tasks, you will want to choose the AI tool that suits your needs.
As artificial intelligence continues to gain momentum, some may feel anxious about its potential to replace human programmers. However, while the concern is totally legit, the situation may not be as bad as it may seem. While coding is challenging, AI can help alleviate the burden of the lengthy and strenuous process.
In fact, coders are integrating AI into their workflow, resulting in a significant increase in coding efficiency. AI can not only generate entire code but also debug, translate, and enhance the quality of the code. Hence, there is no reason why you shouldn’t consider using AI.
Related: 25 Funny Things to Say to Snapchat AI
In this guide, we present you with seven of the best AI tools that can function as your personal coding assistants.
1. OpenAI’s ChatGPT
Though not specifically made for coding purposes, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has all the machine learning capabilities to code for you in multiple programming languages, from Python to JavaScript, Swift, TypeScript, and many more. Its popularity is doubly defined by the fact that users can request it, in plain language, to generate, complete, correct, and analyze codes. As such, even users with no programming background can use it to for general-purpose coding.
Link: ChatGPT
Pros
- Free to use
- Translates simple prompts to codes
- Generates code in all major programming languages
Cons
- Not designed specifically for coding purposes and may produce buggy codes
2. Copilot Github
Based on OpenAI’s Codex model, Copilot is a code-completion AI tool that draws from the vast repositories of GitHub to suggest and develop code. Ideal for programmers wanting to optimize their code, Copilot will offer context-based suggestions, complete codes, and make improvements to develop better, more accurate code, and do it faster. Like its ChatGPT cousin, it too can turn natural language prompts into coding suggestions, and does so for a garden variety of programming languages.
Link: Copilot Github
Pros
- Uses GitHub code repositories
- Available with code editors like Visual Studio, JetBrains, Neovim, etc.
- Based on OpenAI’s Codex model
Cons
- Purchase required after the free trial ends
3. AlphaCode
Developed by Google and DeepMind, Alphacode is a highly differentiated code generator, designed to help users get access to a number of readymade code libraries and repositories. On top of that, because it’s mainly trained on competitive programming datasets, and has learned by observing available code, its approach is completely driven by data. It also has the capability to combine plain language with the prowess of large language models to generate and complete code and offer suggestions based on the context of the code.
Link: AlphaCode
Pros
- Ideal for code completion and correction
- Trained exclusively on competitive coding datasets
- Rivals human coders in programming contests
Cons
- Some developers may find it difficult to adjust to the tool
4. Tabnine
Tabnine doesn’t write code from scratch. But it’s a great alternative to other code-completion tools like Copilot that can make you an efficient coder. Tabnine’s AI-based code prediction model can help developers overcome mistakes that are bound to arise when typing boilerplate code, improve their code based on context and syntax, and make them better, faster coders. It also learns as you code, understanding the patterns and habits every time a member of your team uses it, and offers better suggestions over time.
With support for over a dozen programming languages and code editors, Tabnine offers the perfect AI solution to developers looking for a whole-line and full-function tool that can finish your codes for you.
Link: Tabnine
Pros
- Can run locally, on a server, or in the cloud.
- AI-based code completion that learns your coding habits
- Works for most popular programming languages
Cons
- Costly Pro plan
5. Amazon CodeWhisperer
CodeWhisperer by Amazon is another AI-powered code completion tool for developers, especially those who want to speed up application development. As your AI coding companion, it can be used to get code suggestions that range from little fragments to full-fledged functions. Developers can get started with CodeWhisperer with nothing more than a bit of code and a few comments, something that can come in quite handy when building apps with unfamiliar APIs.
CodeWhisperer supports 15 programming languages, like Python and JavaScript, and all the major IDEs, including VS Code and AWS Cloud9.
Link: Amazon CodeWhisperer
Pros
- Integration across AWS applications
- Ideal for speedy app development, even with unfamiliar APIs
- Suggests everything from code snippets to full functions
Cons
- Except for JetBrains and Visual Studio Code, most supported IDEs are Amazon based.
6. CodeT5
CodeT5 is one of the better open-source alternatives to the more known names in the AI coding world. Built by SalesForce, its foundation is based on Google’s T5, or Text-to-Text Transfer Transformer, though it’s touted as being much better at understanding code. Trained on millions of code snippets available on GitHub libraries, including user comments, CodeT5 works wonders for developers who want a tool that can complete their code, summarize the function of a code, or generate code with plain language descriptions. CodeT5 also supports a variety of programming languages, such as Python, JavaScript, Ruby, C, and C#, etc.
Link: CodeT5
Pros
- Huge training dataset
- Supports all major programming languages
- Local installation keeps your data private
Cons
- May encode stereotypes from the comments in its dataset
7. Polycoder
When it comes to coding quickly, few do it better than Polycoder – an open-source code generator that gives many paid AI coding options a run for their money, at least in terms of speed. Polycoder supports the 12 most popular programming languages whose repositories have been cloned for training purposes, including all the comments. Though it is a little rough round the edges, it’s continually being improved and serves as a great free AI code generation and completion tool.
Link: Polycoder
Pros
- Open-source and free
- Support for 12 programming languages
- Offline use to preserve privacy
Cons
- Not as seamless as other options
- Problems with tokenization and application. Will begin generating random new files once the current one ends.
Which AI Code Tool to use for different purposes?
Each AI programming tool mentioned above does some things better than the rest. Depending on your preferences, you may want to use a different tool for your coding needs.
For Speed: Amazon CodeWhisperer and Polycoder
For general-purpose coding: ChatGPT
Code completion: Tabnine
Vast data repositories and language support: Alphacode, Copilot GitHub
Honorable Mentions
Apart from the options mentioned above, there are a few others that developers and programmers may benefit from. Some of these include the likes of DeepCode, AIXcoder, and CodeWP. Many of these AI coding tools, as well as some others, will have integrated GitHub libraries, will offer partial and full-fledged code completion, and support a number of coding languages.
However, for all their advantages, they are not perfect. They may be slow and buggy and not ideally suited for big and complicated projects. But if you’re looking for additional options, these are worthy considerations.
We hope this guide helped you narrow down your options from the sea of AI coding tools available nowadays.
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