Software development has been transformed by AI coding tools.
Uses
- Code completion and generation.
- Coding agents that implement features and fix bugs across files.
- Code review assistance.
- Test generation.
- Documentation and explanation of unfamiliar code.
- Debugging from error messages and logs.
- Migration between languages and frameworks.
Benefits
Faster routine work, quicker onboarding to new codebases, and help with unfamiliar technologies.
Risks
- Plausible but wrong code.
- Security vulnerabilities.
- Hallucinated libraries and APIs.
- Growing codebases nobody fully understands.
- Licence and intellectual property questions.
Adopting Well
- Strong tests and continuous integration.
- Code review for all changes.
- Project instructions describing conventions.
- Security scanning.
- Clear policies on which tools and data may be used.
Skills Shift
Specifying problems, reviewing code, designing systems and testing become more important as generation becomes cheaper.