DEV Community: Nsa

Github Copilot has become a paid service 😩

Nsa — Mon, 04 Jul 2022 11:38:47 +0000

WHAT IS GITHUB COPILOT ?

For developers who live on another planet 🙄 and those who are not in the development 😁, GitHub Copilot is an artificial intelligence tool developed by GitHub and OpenAI to help users of Visual Studio Code integrated development environments, Visual Studio, Neovim and JetBrains by automatically completing code.

https://github.com/features/copilot

The platform is also very useful for learning to code in a new language, and allows you to try new things, with the assurance of progressing thanks to the suggestions of syntax and code suggestions.

Introduced a year ago, Github's programming help software is now open to everyone. There are still many unanswered questions about its capabilities. "Your programming partner is here," Github announced in a press release on June 21, 2022. This is not just any partner, but Github Copilot, a software programming aid software powered by artificial intelligence. Its promise is as simple as it is revolutionary: Copilot could help developers to code by proposing them, all by itself, lines of by proposing lines of code all by itself.

A year after its public presentation, Copilot, which was developed by the specialized in hosting code projects, Github and OpenAI, is available to everyone.Copilot was until now reserved for testers: more than 1.2 million developers had registered and for almost a year evaluated the software's prowess.
Copilot works in a simple way: "When you type in lines of code or comments, Copilot suggests the next comments, Copilot suggests the next line," says Github. "It's not just about a single word or line-Copilot can suggest entire methods, standard code formulas, test paragraphs of standard code, entire test paragraphs and even complex algorithms."

SOME CONCERNS ABOUT GITHUB COPILOT

1. The ethical and legal problem

The general principle of this AI poses a legal and ethical problem because Github has used the available on its platform. The problem is that the code available on the platform is not necessarily free to use and one can wonder if Github has the right to exploit the repository code hosted on its platform in the framework of such a such a project.
This also poses a problem for the user who could be suggested pieces of code that would be under license without knowing it.

2. Telemetry

If we read the frequently asked questions, Github specifies that a part of your code is sent to their server to be used as context for intelligence.

The problem is that if you are working on a file that contains sensitive data, this data could end up on Github’s servers and could be exploited by someone exploited by someone with bad intentions.

3. A generated code that doesn't always meet our expectations

For all that, it is stressed that GitHub Copilot does not write perfect code. "The wizard is designed to generate the best possible code given the context it has access to, but it doesn't test the code it suggests, so it doesn't always work or make sense."

GitHub Copilot is based on a Codex language model designed by OpenAI. This has been trained with publicly available source code, but also natural language. It's not just about human language is part of it.

According to GitHub (in the Microsoft fold) and for files where the assistant is enabled, 40% of newly written code is the work of GitHub Copilot. There has been some controversy regarding the legality of training AI with public code on GitHub, while the presence of security vulnerabilities in the suggested code questioned.

PAID VERSION 🤨

Towards the end of June 2022, GitHub Copilot became paid at a rate of $ 10 per month or $ 100 per year per user (with an individual GitHub account). However, a 60-day free trial is offered.

https://github.blog/2022-06-21-github-copilot-is-generally-available-to-all-developers/

Initially launched as a technical preview, more than 1.2 million developers have registered for access during the registered for access over the past 12 months, with the majority of them now using Copilot in now use Copilot in their daily work.
https://github.com/pricing

MY CONCLUSION

Personally, on the whole, I like the tool very much, despite the advantages stated above. However, I am an avid user of open source projects 😗, I was sad to learn that GitHub Copilot became paid 😨. I had gained some productivity thanks to the suggestions proposed by the tool.

Original post : https://nsa-blog.vercel.app/post/github-copilot-has-become-a-paid-service

Retrospectives on the dislike button of Youtube

Nsa — Fri, 13 May 2022 00:23:41 +0000

Following experiments conducted earlier in 2021, Youtube had announced the removal of the "I don't like" counter from its video hosting platform. A change that aimed to protect videographers.
Then on November 10, 2021 the video hosting giant had announced the removal of the counter of "I do not like" content on its platform. A decision that the company had justified by the desire to preserve its creators from harassment and certain targeted attacks.

Initially the dislikes counter had already been temporarily removed during experiments, earlier in 2021.

Finally it is still possible to show that you don't like a video by pressing the thumb down. But the number is no longer displayed publicly. On the other hand, creators can always see it in their dashboard to get an idea of what works and what doesn't on their channel.

PRESERVING RESERVING CONTENT CREATORS

The company had explained that it was the results of a previous experiment that led to this removal of the counter. According to the statement of Youtube, the data showed that this removal of the counter, while leaving users the opportunity to use the "I don't like" button, had led to a decrease in users who clicked on this button only to harm the creators. Malicious acts to which small channels were apparently particularly exposed. In this way, the risks of harassment will be reduced.

As a reminder, the most "disliked" video on YouTube is a video produced by the platform itself! The YouTube Rewind of 2018 has more than 15 million dislikes!

MY CONCLUSION

First of all, I share the same opinion as the company. YouTube said that "we've heard in the course of the experiment that some of you have used the red thumbs counter to decide whether to watch a video or not. We know you might not agree with this decision, but we think it's the right thing to do for the platform." The decision is "one of many steps we are taking to continue to protect creators from harassment," he added. The goal is to foster respect, safety and inclusiveness on its platform, whose algorithm is sometimes accused of offering violent and offensive videos.

Secondly, as a YouTube user, the number of Dislikes was a determining factor in deciding whether or not I could watch a video. This criterion can no longer be taken into account by users as a guarantee of quality or not of a content.

In conclusion, the decision of the giant Youtube certainly had disadvantages but with perfectly justifiable advantages. The proof, despite the 2 billion monthly users, we have rather quickly accepted this more or less radical change of the company.

BONUS

For all the fringe people who don't want to follow the current decision of the company 😅, you can still customize your Youtube channel to display the number of dislikes of a video.
On that note I suggest you follow this tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5NEsBVqY28

What I would have liked to know before becoming an IT developer

Nsa — Sun, 23 May 2021 11:17:47 +0000

There are a lot of “clichés” about the job of the IT developer. It solves or creates solutions in record time or that is enriched in no time by creating an application like Facebook. Before we go let’s start by defining what is an IT developer.

Definition of an IT developer

There are many definitions about an IT developer 😉. In summary what we can say is that an IT developer is a creator of sites or applications using a technology (WordPress,…) or a programming language (JavaScript, C#, Java, …)

Types of IT developer

With the exponential evolution of technology, the areas of specialization of computer scientists are only increasing. For this point we are going to list some of the most common types of computer developers that exist:

Web developer

Also called Front-End developer, the web developer carries out all the technical functions of a site or a web application. Technician or engineer, he designs tailor-made sites or adapts existing technical solutions according to the project and the customer’s request.

Back-End Developer

Unlike the Front-End developer, the Back-End developer is not concerned with the ergonomic aspect of the site but with the technical and functional aspect. He works in the shadows.

Software Developer

In itself a software developer means being able to design applications for the web, mobile or tablets.

However, the latter is different from the others on the target platform point. The software developer is called upon to develop software that runs directly on a system or a computer unlike web developers who work on the web.

Mobile developer

Unlike his colleagues mentioned above, the mobile developer is a developer specializing in the creation of applications intended to be used on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.

DevOps Developer

The term “DevOps” is actually a contraction of the terms “development” and “operations”. This new profession, which has recently appeared on the job market, is a perfect illustration of the evolution of the IT sector. Indeed, the challenges facing companies linked to the necessary digital transformation are giving rise to new needs, and, a fortiori, new profiles capable of mastering several skills at the same time. In this sense, you could say that DevOps combines the skills of the web developer and the system administrator 😎.

This dual skill profile, therefore, is revolutionizing the way software and computer applications are designed since in the past, development engineers and systems administration engineers worked independently of each other .

Different levels of IT developers

Developers are also classified according to their experience or skill.

According to this specification, they are generally classified into three categories: junior developers, senior developers, and senior developers. However there is a great debate in the developer community to specify the different levels of developers.

Junior developers

Between 0 and two years of experience, junior developers are usually out of school and have little experience.

They usually have little or no responsibility for the analysis and design of the solution.

Confirmed developers

This level brings together the majority of developers.

Senior developers produce around 80% of the total code for the solution.

They know the whole development cycle, the classic problems and how to avoid them in their next codes. Their action is effective because they have perspective and experience 🙂.

They may be responsible for designing part of the puzzle.

They have identified what they do not yet know and are working to fill those gaps.

Senior developers

An expert in a given technology is the person who will be assigned the most difficult tasks, because only he knows how to solve them.

He is responsible for the design. He is the one who dissects the specifications of a software in order to be able to explain them to his team. He is familiar with the field in which he operates, which allows him to think about issues that others ignore, such as regulatory and legal issues.

He has already seen promising new technologies appear, integrate their workspace and then disappear a few months later. This made him cautious, without being resistant to change.

He is a great debugger, he has run into almost every problem and found solutions. When they breed, he knows where to look first 😎.

An expert always chooses the company where the missions and challenges are the most interesting.

The 4 elements to know before embarking on the profession of IT developer

After having made a summary on the job of the IT developer, we now get to the heart of the matter.

Personally, I would have liked to know these things before I got into the world of IT development. Based on my personal experience and testimonials or articles from other developers, I have summarized the list of the four must-know things. These points are as follows:

4.1. The will (passion)

Will is and will remain the fuel par excellence to embark on any field or profession, IT is not spared 💪.

4.2. Curiosity

Computing is changing phenomenally. You just have to observe how other professions are digitizing around you, how much stronger you who are supposed to be in the oven and in the mill.

The IT world is so dense that you have to keep updating yourself 🧐.

Note: You don’t have to learn everything, but you should be aware of new trends especially in your field.

4.3. Work

In this trade the worker will always surpass the talented negligent. Very often we do the parallelism if being good at mathematics will make you an excellent developer.

Another trap is that beginners spend a lot of time playing YouTube videos.

In view of all of the above, what then would be the appropriate resources for a beginner?

Personally, I will advise apprentice developers to start with the basic or rudimentary notions (training, PDF or videos) on the technologies of their choice, then reproduce some YouTube videos on projects and finally move on to carry out a concrete personal project or a submitted project. by another.

Note that the computer scientist who learns by project will always be one step ahead of the one who dwells on YouTube videos. Because the one who learns by project, meets many practical realities that you will not necessarily meet on YouTube videos, tips and from a mental point of view he becomes more and more strong and confident.

4.4. The mental

We can summarize this point in this sentence: “being a developer does not just code”

This point is unfortunately the graveyard of many developers 😭. Contrary to appearances, in this job you will often have to face stress. This can come from various sources: bugs during development (the most common), difficulties in carrying out certain tasks (also very common), negative reviews, etc.

The world of IT is a world of enthusiasts! Don’t hesitate to take off in this immense ocean!