bbaovanc.com/content/blog/github-copilot-experiments/index.md

title, date, toc, comments, authors, tags, series, resources

title	date	toc	comments	authors	tags	series	resources
GitHub Copilot experiments	2021-11-06T23:56:47-05:00	true	true	bbaovanc	github-copilot	GitHub Copilot Experiments	name src title feature boba-shop.webp GitHub Copilot tends to repeat stuff. name src rust-poem rust-poem.webp name src python-twinkle-poem python-twinkle-poem.webp name src horrible-code horrible-code.webp name src dropdown-css dropdown-css.webp name src boba-shop boba-shop.webp name src boba-shop-size boba-shop-size.webp name src boba-shop-color boba-shop-color.webp name src girlfriend girlfriend.webp name src cheese-burger-poem cheese-burger-poem.webp name src sing sing.webp name src what-is-boba what-is-boba.webp name src what-is-github-copilot what-is-github-copilot.webp name src what-is-the-purpose-of-this-file what-is-the-purpose-of-this-file.webp name src who-is-steve-jobs who-is-steve-jobs.webp

I decided to play around with GitHub Copilot. Here's some of the code that I got as a result.

Poems

First, I tried to get Copilot to write me a poem in Rust. It didn't really work.

{{< figure src="rust-poem" >}}

So, I tried Python instead.

{{< figure src="python-twinkle-poem" >}}

This is where I realized that Copilot was doing a little more than just repeating code it had seen before verbatim.

Before this testing, my understanding was that Copilot was sort of like a search engine. It looked at the context and found a piece of code from GitHub that matched the functionality you wanted. This was the reason I had such a negative opinion about it. I saw it as a way to easily violate copyleft licenses such as GPLv3.

Anyways, back to more testing.

Horrible code

I decided to ask it to generate some horrible code for me. Unfortunately, it didn't quite do what I wanted.

{{< figure src="horrible-code" >}}

Solving problems in bobatheme

I decided to consult Copilot on how to make a nice CSS dropdown, which I need for the language picker in bobatheme.

{{< figure src="dropdown-css" >}}

Maybe I'll have to test it out.

Making a boba shop

Now, I asked Copilot for help on creating a new boba shop, which got a little spammy.

{{< figure src="boba-shop" >}}

{{< figure src="boba-shop-size" >}}

More random code

I got some ideas of important questions to ask Copilot thanks to the conversations going on in Discord.

{{< figure src="girlfriend" >}}

Turns out the API endpoint in that code is real, and returns a (presumably) nonexistent person.

Another poem

I decided to generate one more poem, this time naming the function something different in hopes of getting a different result.

{{< figure src="cheese-burger-poem" >}}

It was a success! And the output of the program:

Mary had a little lamb.
Its fleece was white as snow.
And everywhere that Mary went.
..........
Cheese Burger

A song

I decided to try and get it to sing a song.

{{< figure src="sing" >}}

According to Google Translate, here's what that says:

def sing():
    print("""
    You are my little pig
    I love you
    You are my little pig
    I love you
    """)

GitHub Copilot as an encyclopedia

I decided to ask Copilot a few random questions to test its encyclopedia abilities.

{{< figure src="what-is-boba" >}}

{{< figure src="what-is-github-copilot" >}}

{{< figure src="who-is-steve-jobs" >}}

I had run out of questions to ask, so I just started the comment with a generic "what is" and let Copilot finish the question and answer.

{{< figure src="what-is-the-purpose-of-this-file" >}}

That last line came out of nowhere!