Artificial intelligence assaults code: 10 tools for web developers

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not limited to generating text, images, video or sound; it can also create computer code. Many tools exploit AI to generate, explain, correct, optimise or complete code, meeting the varied needs of developers, from beginners to experts. To mark World Programmers' and Developers' Day, discover a selection of 10 tools that will help you with your programming and development tasks thanks to artificial intelligence.

1. ChatGPT

ChatGPTwith its current GPT-4 model, offers excellent code skills. It can generate, explain, debug and correct code while providing explanations. It is particularly suited to novice and expert developers, and offers the option of analysing and interpreting lines of code using the Code Interpreter plugin.

2. Replit Ghostwriter

Replit Ghostwriter enables code generation, completion, transformation, enhancement, decryption and debugging. It supports many programming languages, including Bash, C, C++, C#, CSS, Go, PHP, JavaScript, Java, Perl, Python, Ruby and many others. Replit Ghostwriter is accessible via an online development environment, making it particularly suitable for programming beginners who want to benefit from AI support and explanations.

3. Google Bard

Google BardThis general-purpose chatbot has strong code-generation capabilities. It supports more than 20 programming languages, including Python, C, C++, JavaScript and more. Bard can also translate, execute and export code directly into Google Colab. It can resolve bugs, explain code extracts, and request functions to be written for Google Sheets.

4. Llama Code

Meta has developed Llama CodeCode Llama is an open source language model designed for programming. Based on Meta's Llama 2 language model, Code Llama enables the generation of natural language code in response to descriptions. It supports many programming languages, including Python, C++, Java, PHP, C#, and Bash. Code Llama is available in several specific versions, including one dedicated to Python and another for understanding and generating natural language responses from instructions. It is free for research and commercial use.

5. GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot is a programming assistance tool that offers autocompletion suggestions when you write code. It can also respond to text queries describing the actions you want to perform with your code. Powered by a generative AI model developed by GitHub, OpenAI, and Microsoft, GitHub Copilot is available as an extension for various development environments, including Visual Studio Code, Neovim, JetBrains, Azure Data Studio, and many others. It supports many programming languages, including JavaScript, C, C++, C#, PHP, Python, Ruby, etc. A version under development, GitHub Copilot X, based on GPT-4, offers even more features, including pull request management, code correction, translation, unit test writing, and custom responses based on documentation.

6. Tabnine

Tabnine is not an end-to-end code generator, but it optimises the autocomplete function of your development environment (IDE). Compatible with more than 20 programming languages and 15 editors, including VS Code, IntelliJ, Android Studio and Vim, Tabnine offers security and confidentiality controls tailored to businesses, guaranteeing code security and confidentiality.

7. CodeGPT

CodeGPT is a third-party extension for VS Code that lets you use GPT templates, including GPT-4, to generate, explain, debug, fix and improve code. It supports 16 programming languages and can be linked to other AI services APIs, such as HuggingFace and Anthropic.

8. Amazon CodeWhisperer

Amazon offers CodeWhispererThe Python Toolkit is a dedicated programming tool that can generate complete functions based on your code. It can also scan your code for vulnerabilities and supports several programming languages, including Python, JavaScript, Typescript, C# and many others.

9. CodeT5

CodeT5 is an open source programming language model developed by Salesforce, based on Google's T5 (text-to-text transfer transformer) principle. It can be used to generate code from natural language descriptions, autocomplete code and summarise functions in natural language.

10. GPT Engineer

GPT Engineer is an open source project similar to Auto-GPT, which builds the code base for a project by answering questions posed by the AI. It can be used to create complete applications by providing instructions.

These tools open up new perspectives for developers by exploiting the capabilities of artificial intelligence to simplify and accelerate the software development process. Whether you're a programming beginner or an expert, these tools can help you to be more efficient and creative in your development work.