Anybody have any stories using C++ code? I'm a bit hesitant to see what generic C++ OOP or just regular code looks like lol
GitHub Copilot is generally available
611–620 of 796 posts
Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available
#612I've been using Copilot for a few months and... Yeah, it makes mistakes, sometimes it shows you i.e. the most common way to do something, even if that way has a bug in it. Yes, sometimes it writes a complete blunder. And yes again, sometimes there are very subtle logical mistakes in the code it proposes. But overall? It's been *great*! Definitely worth the 10 bucks a month (especially with a developer salary). :inser…
What would be your estimate for how much time it saves?
Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available
#613Needs a full metrics dashboard on usage.
Some counters for…
CopilotRecommendations CopilotRecommedationIterations (Number of saved changes to initial recommendation) CopilotRecommmedationSaves SkipToNextSuggestion
Metrics on my code that is used by copilot by others would be nice to see.
Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available
#614Earlier quoted context omitted.
Damages. This question will come back to damages. If you steal 10 lines of code from me, the damages will be the greater of: - The benefit to you (10 minutes programmer time) - The cost to me ($0) - Statutory damages (probably $200) In other words, it's very unlikely to be worth a lawsuit. The most likely outcome is: - A legal letter is sent - Infringing code is removed - As good bedside manner, some nominal amount o…
Since people and github are contemplating repeatedly infringing, is there an avenue to increase these damages? This seems like repeated and willful infringement.
It's not willful by the users of copilot. Damages would be low since it's easy to show that users have no intention of infringing, and in most cases, aren't aware they're infringing.
If liability sits somewhere, it's with copilot, github, and Microsoft.
A lot of that might come down to bedside manner. Right now, github isn't super-polite to people whose code it used. That's probably a mistake. They'd be a unsympathetic evil megacorp in a jury trial.
Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available
#615I assume that Copilot uses open source projects on GitHub to “learn” what to suggest. Some of these projects might be under, say, GPL v3. A developer uses Copilot for a commercial project and Copilot insert a complete function from a GPL v3 code into this project. Someone notices this and sues the commercial project for breaking GPL v3. Will GitHub pickup the tab?
Damages. This question will come back to damages. If you steal 10 lines of code from me, the damages will be the greater of: - The benefit to you (10 minutes programmer time) - The cost to me ($0) - Statutory damages (probably $200) In other words, it's very unlikely to be worth a lawsuit. The most likely outcome is: - A legal letter is sent - Infringing code is removed - As good bedside manner, some nominal amount o…
An example of how much copied code is worth:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_LLC_v._Oracle_America,_...
For this content:
a nine-line rangeCheck function, several test files, the structure, sequence and organization (SSO) of the Java (API), and the API documentation.
Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available
#616Earlier quoted context omitted.
Damages. This question will come back to damages. If you steal 10 lines of code from me, the damages will be the greater of: - The benefit to you (10 minutes programmer time) - The cost to me ($0) - Statutory damages (probably $200) In other words, it's very unlikely to be worth a lawsuit. The most likely outcome is: - A legal letter is sent - Infringing code is removed - As good bedside manner, some nominal amount o…
Willful copyright infringement for monetary gain can be prosecuted as a criminal act in the United States (and many other countries including Japan) and it's highly possible Github themselves can end up in hot water for facilitating this.
> it’s highly possible Github themselves can end up in how water for facilitating this.
It might be possible, I don’t know about “highly”. Have you checked the license exclusions required to use Github? Their terms already carve out a Copyright exception for Github, because they need it on order to host your code. There’s also no reason Github can’t filter certain licenses, or make it impossible to complete entire functions, or build an option for everyone to opt-in to being autocomplete source material regardless of license, right? Any legal challenges are likely to result in changes to the feature before there are ever any serious repercussions.
I think it’s at least as likely, if not more so, that Copyright Law could evolve in response to the growing number of AI auto completers, and we (society) try to allow it within reason by being more specific about what constitutes automated infringement and who’s responsible for it. Fair Use currently exists but is vague and left up to courts to decide. In the meantime, Copyright is primarily intended to foster a balance between business and freedom of expression, and there’s a lot of open source software on Github that cares about freedom of expression and not about business. In any case, we don’t really want Copyright to represent some kind of absolute ownership land-lock over every string of 100 characters, that is a bit antithetical to both Copyright and the FOSS community.
Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available
#617Earlier quoted context omitted.
Damages. This question will come back to damages. If you steal 10 lines of code from me, the damages will be the greater of: - The benefit to you (10 minutes programmer time) - The cost to me ($0) - Statutory damages (probably $200) In other words, it's very unlikely to be worth a lawsuit. The most likely outcome is: - A legal letter is sent - Infringing code is removed - As good bedside manner, some nominal amount o…
An example of how much copied code is worth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_LLC_v._Oracle_America,_... For this content: a nine-line rangeCheck function, several test files, the structure, sequence and organization (SSO) of the Java (API), and the API documentation. The cost was: "statutory damages up to a maximum of US$150,000".
I don’t believe the nine lines of code was the relevant part leading to damages. It was the fact that Google copied this entire API design (SSO) for Java. I don’t think GPT-3 is in danger of doing that.
Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available
#618Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wholeheartedly agree with your analysis, but feel like it’s ignoring the elephant in the room: writing code is not the bottleneck in need of optimization. Conceiving the solution is. Any time “saved” through Copilot and it’s ilk is immediately nullified by having to check it’s correctness. From there, the problem is worsened by the Frankensteinesque stitching together of disparate parts that you describe. I can’t i…
Right on the money. What I want is a copilot that finds errors ala spellcheck-esque. Did I miss an early return? For example in the code below def some_worker if disabled_via_feature_flag logger.info("skipping some_worker") some_potentially_hazardous_method_call() Right after the logger call I missed a return. A copilot could easily catch this. Invert the relationship. I don't need some boilerplate generator, I need…
> I need a nitpicker that's smarter than a linter. I'm the smart thinker with a biological brain that is inattentive at times. Why is the computer trying to code and leaving mistake catching to me? It's backwards.
Hmmmm, that is actually a good observation.
Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available
#619It is just a matter of time before IDE's will have this capability built in for free.
Possibly but I think we’re talking years if not decades.
Everyone would need a next gen GPU to run it and someone would have to drop $500k on a gpu rack to train it.
A decade for general accessibility sounds right.
Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available
#620I've been using Copilot for a few months and... Yeah, it makes mistakes, sometimes it shows you i.e. the most common way to do something, even if that way has a bug in it. Yes, sometimes it writes a complete blunder. And yes again, sometimes there are very subtle logical mistakes in the code it proposes. But overall? It's been *great*! Definitely worth the 10 bucks a month (especially with a developer salary). :inser…
What would be your estimate for how much time it saves?
I get the desire to ask that question, but it also feels like the main thing Copilot saves me is energy, which can’t be quantified in a very useful way. You’ll just have to take our words for it.
Like, writing a really boring unit test might only take 60 seconds, but if Copilot can do it for me (even if I have to quickly scan it for correctness) that saves me… well something other than 60 seconds. It sure feels like a big deal.