Generative AI VS Code Tool Now Does Unit Testing -- Visual Studio Magazine

Generative AI VS Code Tool Now Does Unit Testing

By David Ramel
02/27/2023

With generative AI being all the rage these days, Tabnine has updated its AI-powered code completion tool for Visual Studio Code with new functionality: unit testing.

The Tabnine VS Code extension in Microsoft's marketplace has garnered more than 5 million installs on the strength of its AI-assisted autocomplete functionality for JavaScript, Python, TypeScript, PHP, Go, Java, Ruby and more. Such functionality, of course, is also provided by Microsoft's IntelliSense and IntelliCode, not to mention the groundbreaking "AI pair programmer" from Microsoft-owned GitHub, called Copilot, which is powered by an advanced machine language model from Microsoft partner OpenAI.

**[Click on image for larger view.]** The Tabnine VS Code Tool *(source: VS Code Marketplace).*

And you might have heard of a more recent OpenAI release, called ChatGPT, which has also been used to generate code in software development.

Amid that fast-moving, AI-enriched developerscape, Tabnine last week announced unit testing generation to accelerate the software development lifecycle. It's currently in beta, so the aforementioned VS Code tool doesn't have it yet.

**[Click on image for larger, animated GIF view.]** Tabnine Unit Test Generation in Animated Action *(source: Tabnine).*

The Tel Aviv-based company said the new unit testing functionality can relieve the time-consuming drudgery of writing unit tests, typically involving tedious and repetitive coding.

"Our new unit test generation capability uses cutting-edge AI technology to generate unit tests for your code automatically, helping ensure that your code is rigorously tested, resulting in fewer bugs and better code stability -- especially important for larger projects or projects with tight deadlines," the company said.

Supported programming languages include Python, Java and JavaScript.

The company's AI tech reportedly improves over time, learning from a developer's previous coding to increasingly generate unit tests that match individual coding styles and patterns.

Note that GitHub Labs has pointed Copilot to unit testing also, with TestPilot, and developers have also used the regular Copilot tool to save time.

Taking note of such competition, Tabnine also last week published a comparison, "Tabnine Enterprise vs. GitHub Copilot Business," which includes pricing details.

Developers can sign up for early access to the beta version of the upgraded Tabnine tool.

About the Author

David Ramel is an editor and writer at Converge 360.

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