Setting up GitHub Copilot for your development workflow

Test Copilot with sample prompts across languages

This section guides you through the process of verifying GitHub Copilot’s installation by writing your first prompt and observing suggestions in multiple programming languages. It also covers how to use keyboard shortcuts to control suggestions.

Step 1: Creating a file for each language

To enable Copilot to understand the language context, you must first create a file with the correct extension in Visual Studio Code.

Folder structure in Visual Studio Code, displaying HTML, SQL, JavaScript, and Python files under the Testing Code directory

To verify Copilot functionality across programming languages, you can start by creating test files. The following table shows the file extension and steps to create them in Visual Studio Code.

Step 2: Writing a sample function with a comment

Once your file is created and open, you can write a natural language comment that describes the functionality you want. Copilot will respond with code suggestions in real time. Let’s start with the Python file test.py.

Example:

#function to calculate factorial of a number

Copilot suggestion:

def factorial(n):
    if n < 0:
        return "Invalid input"
    elif n == 0 or n == 1:
        return 1
    else:
        result = 1
        for i in range(2, n + 1):
            result *= i
        return result

Python code generated by GitHub Copilot, based on a comment to calculate the factorial of a number, demonstrating AI-assisted coding with recursion

Step 3: Testing suggestions in multiple languages

You can try the same idea with other files to verify that Copilot works across languages.

JavaScript (script.js)

Prompt:

//function to check if a number is prime

Suggested output:

JavaScript function generated by GitHub Copilot from a comment to determine if a number is prime, highlighting AI-assisted code generation with syntax coloring

SQL (query.sql)

Prompt:

-- get top 5 highest paid employees

Expected output:

SQL query generated by GitHub Copilot to select the top five highest-paid employees from an employee table, with Copilot's in-line suggestion options visible

HTML (index.html)

Prompt:

<!-- create a responsive navbar using a Bootstrap -->

Suggested output:

HTML boilerplate generated by GitHub Copilot based on a comment to create a responsive navbar using a bootstrap, illustrating AI assistance in web development