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short-paper

An empirical evaluation of GitHub copilot's code suggestions

Authors:

Sarah NadiAuthors Info & Claims

MSR '22: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Mining Software Repositories

Pages 1 - 5

https://doi.org/10.1145/3524842.3528470

Published: 17 October 2022 Publication History

Abstract

GitHub and OpenAI recently launched Copilot, an "AI pair programmer" that utilizes the power of Natural Language Processing, Static Analysis, Code Synthesis, and Artificial Intelligence. Given a natural language description of the target functionality, Copilot can generate corresponding code in several programming languages. In this paper, we perform an empirical study to evaluate the correctness and understandability of Copilot's suggested code. We use 33 LeetCode questions to create queries for Copilot in four different programming languages. We evaluate the correctness of the corresponding 132 Copilot solutions by running LeetCode's provided tests, and evaluate understandability using SonarQube's cyclomatic complexity and cognitive complexity metrics. We find that Copilot's Java suggestions have the highest correctness score (57%) while JavaScript is the lowest (27%). Overall, Copilot's suggestions have low complexity with no notable differences between the programming languages. We also find some potential Copilot shortcomings, such as generating code that can be further simplified and code that relies on undefined helper methods.

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Cited By

Lira WSantos Neto POsorio L(2024)Uma análise do uso de ferramentas de geração de código por alunos de computaçãoAnais do IV Simpósio Brasileiro de Educação em Computação (EDUCOMP 2024)10.5753/educomp.2024.237427(63-71)Online publication date: 22-Apr-2024
https://doi.org/10.5753/educomp.2024.237427
Abu Doush I(2024)The Current State of Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools for Accessibility in Product DevelopmentNafath10.54455/MCN26059:26Online publication date: 30-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.54455/MCN2605
Boumediene HBouakkaz M(2024)Changes in homework submission patterns with the advent of AI tools: a high school perspectiveSTUDIES IN EDUCATION SCIENCES10.54019/sesv5n4-0015:4(e10249)Online publication date: 6-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.54019/sesv5n4-001
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Index Terms

An empirical evaluation of GitHub copilot's code suggestions
1. Software and its engineering
  1. Software creation and management
    1. Software development techniques
      1. Reusability
  2. Software notations and tools
    1. Development frameworks and environments
      1. Integrated and visual development environments

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

MSR '22: Proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Mining Software Repositories

May 2022

815 pages

ISBN:9781450393034

DOI:10.1145/3524842

General Chair:
David Lo
Singapore Management University, Singapore
,
Program Chairs:
Shane McIntosh
University of Waterloo, Canada
,
Nicole Novielli
University of Bari, Italy

Copyright © 2022 ACM.

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Published: 17 October 2022

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MSR '22: 19th International Conference on Mining Software Repositories

May 23 - 24, 2022

Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh

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2025 IEEE/ACM 46th International Conference on Software Engineering

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Cited By

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https://doi.org/10.5753/educomp.2024.237427
Abu Doush I(2024)The Current State of Generative Artificial Intelligence Tools for Accessibility in Product DevelopmentNafath10.54455/MCN26059:26Online publication date: 30-Jul-2024
https://doi.org/10.54455/MCN2605
Boumediene HBouakkaz M(2024)Changes in homework submission patterns with the advent of AI tools: a high school perspectiveSTUDIES IN EDUCATION SCIENCES10.54019/sesv5n4-0015:4(e10249)Online publication date: 6-Nov-2024
https://doi.org/10.54019/sesv5n4-001
Yeo SMa YKim SJun HKim T(2024)Framework for evaluating code generation ability of large language modelsETRI Journal10.4218/etrij.2023-035746:1(106-117)Online publication date: 14-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.4218/etrij.2023-0357
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Idrisov BSchlippe T(2024)Program Code Generation with Generative AIsAlgorithms10.3390/a1702006217:2(62)Online publication date: 31-Jan-2024
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Sengul CNeykova RDestefanis G(2024)Software engineering education in the era of conversational AI: current trends and future directionsFrontiers in Artificial Intelligence10.3389/frai.2024.14363507Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
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Laue RMaranhão JGuerra E(2024)Asking ChatGPT for Pattern Recommendations: EuroPLoP 2024 Focus Group ReportProceedings of the 29th European Conference on Pattern Languages of Programs, People, and Practices10.1145/3698322.3698361(1-7)Online publication date: 3-Jul-2024
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Siddiq Mda Silva Santos JDevareddy SMuller AFilkov VRay BZhou M(2024)SALLM: Security Assessment of Generated CodeProceedings of the 39th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering Workshops10.1145/3691621.3694934(54-65)Online publication date: 27-Oct-2024
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