Amazon CodeWhisperer

08 August 2023

CodeWhisperer is an AI coding tool that generates, single-line or fully functional code suggestions in your IDE to help the developer to quickly build software.

The developer can write a comment in English by uploading a file with server-side encryption. By using this information, the CodeWhisperer suggests one or more code snippets directly in the IDE that can accomplish the task.

We can speed up development and cut down on overall development time and increase productivity by using CodeWhisperer.

CodeWhisperer also supports running security scans on the application’s code. This feature helps identify potential security vulnerabilities and provides developers with suggestions on how to address them proactively.

It provides security scans based on the service selected.

Amazon CodeWhisperer Installation

For using the Amazon CodeWhisperer with VS Code and JetBrains IDEs, one must first download, install, and configure the AWS Toolkit.

Step 1: Go to Plugins, search for the AWS Toolkit, and click Install.

 

 

Step 2: If you plan to use CodeWhisperer with JetBrains (through AWS Toolkit), you will have to authenticate using either AWS Builder ID or IAM Identity Center.

 

Step 3: On the browser, a pop-up will open, and the user will need to add code, grant permissions, and grant access to CodeWhisperer.

 

Step 4: Now, you can start and use CodeWhisperer.

How to use CodeWhisperer

• To get suggestions, the developer can start by writing the code that the developer is intending to use or by writing a natural language (English) comment that says what the developer wants to achieve from Amazon CodeWhisperer.
• To see the suggestions using CodeWhisperer
  • Create a new Java file.
  • Start writing functions or adding comments for which the developer wants code suggestions.
  • Click on the tab to accept suggestions.
• To run a security scan using CodeWhisperer
  • Click on developer tools in the AWS toolkit section.
  • Then run a security scan.
  • It will show all the vulnerabilities and issues in the problem section.

Why CodeWhisperer?

• Increased productivity: One can write code faster than writing it from scratch.
• Code consistency: It makes the code easy to maintain and debug, which helps to keep the project’s code consistent.
• Reduced development time: CodeWhsperer can generate code for you, which helps reduce overall development time. For example, if I am writing the code for adding two numbers, I simply need to add a comment in a natural language (English), and it will automatically suggest code snippets for the input given.
• Improved code quality: CodeWhisperer also supports running security scans on the application’s code. This feature helps identify potential security vulnerabilities and provides developers with suggestions on how to address them proactively.

Code Whisperer disadvantages

• Sometimes it generates code with some errors.
• CodeWhisperer supports limited languages; for example, it supports Java and Python but not Ruby, C#, etc.

Conclusion

Software professionals will find CodeWhisperer to be a priceless tool thanks to its AI-driven coding ideas, and real-time support to improve code quality. CodeWhisperer is poised to revolutionize the software development environment by offering a trustworthy coding companion that complements developers’ abilities and efforts, leading to more effective, error-free, and resilient code production.

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