How AI-Generated Code Increases Development Productivity

Assume you are tasked with creating a carousel element for an online store. How would one approach that?

A possible approach would be to use Figma for design and HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for coding. It would be your responsibility to design the layout, provide navigation, incorporate transitions, and guarantee cross-device responsiveness. It’s likely that you’ll also need to match the styling to your current website and interact with an e-commerce backend via an API.

This rapidly turns into a collaborative effort with frontend, backend, deployment, and design components.

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Alternately, you may inquire of ChatGPT, “Is it possible to develop a carousel element for an online store?” just a matter of seconds, you’ll have the code. Although it’s not nearly flawless, this technique is nevertheless revolutionary for several developers.

It seems sense that an increasing number of teams are choosing the latter. “70% of all respondents are using or are planning to use AI tools in their development process this year,” per the 2023 Stack Overflow Survey. The way development is done is radically changing due to AI code generation. To help you understand how AI code generation can fit within your business, below is a summary of the technology.

What Is Generation of AI Code?

The process by which artificial intelligence systems create computer code to carry out certain programming tasks is referred to as AI code generation. They accomplish this by generating code in response to natural language cues using sophisticated large language models (LLMs).

“Can you create a carousel component for an e-commerce site?” is what we would type. when we input our request into an AI service (in this example, OpenAI’s ChatGPT), the AI uses its training data and knowledge of coding patterns to determine which code best fits our request.

The Process of Generating AI Code

Fundamentally, AI code generation depends on LLMs that have been extensively trained on a variety of code sources. These models pick up on linkages, trends, and structures in code across several programming languages and frameworks.

The AI model uses its neural network to evaluate input from developers, such as natural language prompts or half finished code snippets. It then predicts the most likely order of tokens (words, symbols, or code components) that should come next based on its training data and the context supplied.

The model’s capacity to generalize from its training set of data is its strongest point. It involves creating new code based on patterns learnt and the particular context given, not just reciting bits of remembered code.

Let’s say, for instance, that you begin typing a function definition in Python. The model may then deduce possible arguments and return types based on the function name and any docstring you’ve supplied, as well as the language and function structure it understands. It could advise applying standard algorithms or appropriate design patterns. As AI code generation technology advances, the following developments are being observed:

Multimodal models that comprehend explanations in normal language as well as code, or even schematic pictures

enhanced management of project-specific norms and styles

Improved communication with collaborative development environments and version control systems

The Advantages of Generating AI Code

Speed is the primary driver behind the use of AI code generation. Because of the rapidity of code generation, it is possible to produce code in seconds instead of hours, without the need to manually write every line of code.

Beyond speed, AI code generation facilitates the use of design patterns, connecting APIs, creating boilerplate, and dealing with foreign languages by developers:

Unfamiliar languages: Polyglot programming is made easier by AI code generation, which operates across a variety of languages and frameworks. Code in less well-known languages may be generated by developers, which lowers the learning curve and speeds up cross-language development. When migrating apps across multiple languages or working on varied tech stacks, this functionality is very helpful for teams.

Reducing boilerplate: AI greatly lessens the tediousness of writing repetitious boilerplate code, which is frequently required for establishing projects or putting standard structures in place. The basic code is generated automatically, freeing up developers to work on more intricate and imaginative parts of their projects. In these crucial but frequently disregarded areas of a codebase, this saves time and lowers the possibility of mistakes.

API integration: AI code generation makes the process of integrating external APIs easier. By using API standards or documentation, it may build client code, data models, and sample API calls, saving time while developing structural code and reading through voluminous documentation. This functionality speeds up the creation of feature-rich apps by enabling developers to easily install and test API integrations.

Design patterns: By identifying and putting into practice common design patterns, AI code generation technologies may assist developers in writing more reliable and maintainable code. AI is able to suggest suitable architectural patterns based on work context and needs, so even less experienced engineers may take use of tried-and-true best practices. As a result, code is more scalable, efficient, and consistent across projects.

All of this means that AI code generation greatly benefits enterprises in terms of cost savings. Businesses may drastically cut labor expenses while maintaining or even boosting productivity by automating repetitive coding processes and speeding up development cycles. Teams are able to do more tasks or features in less time because to this efficiency, which essentially uses less resources to accomplish more.

Problems with the Generation of AI Code

The quality of AI output is the primary issue for developers. Artificial Intelligence frequently generates workable code that addresses the immediate issue but lacks the sophisticated architecture and optimizations that result from years of programming expertise.

This might cause problems later on in terms of efficiency, scalability, and maintainability, essentially adding technological debt to a program. The quantity of code that has to be updated or modified every two weeks, or “code churn,” is being researched. The findings indicate that the frequency of these changes is rising, which may indicate a decline in code quality.

The time saved on code production may therefore be offset by this. More effort must be put into thoroughly examining, improving, and debugging AI-generated code before deploying it into production.

Outdated training data may contribute to the quality issue. The area of software development moves quickly, therefore methods from a few years ago that are now included in the enormous datasets that AI is trained on are out of date. The AI’s knowledge base could not include the most recent releases of languages, libraries, or APIs. This may lead to less-than-ideal code that isn’t utilizing the newest features or best practices.

If developers depend too much on AI, they may end up using outdated techniques or overlooking more effective ones. Additionally, if they become too dependent on AI and are ignorant of the most recent methods and ideas, they may become less proficient.