Windows Terminal has emerged as a sophisticated host application designed for command-line shells, including Command Prompt, PowerShell, and bash through WSL. This modern tool offers a range of features that enhance user experience, such as the ability to open multiple tabs and panes, support for Unicode and UTF-8 characters, and options for creating custom themes to personalize text and colors.
Integration with GitHub Copilot
At the recent GitHub Universe event, GitHub unveiled an exciting integration: GitHub Copilot is now available within Windows Terminal. This development allows developers to leverage GitHub Copilot for command suggestions and explanations directly in the terminal, utilizing the Terminal Chat feature in Windows Terminal Canary. This functionality is accessible to all users of Copilot, whether they are individuals, businesses, or part of an enterprise.
Moreover, the GitHub team announced that GitHub Copilot for Xcode has entered public preview. This integration provides Apple developers using Xcode with the same intelligent coding assistance that has been available to users of other integrated development environments (IDEs). The public beta of Copilot for Xcode includes a variety of features designed to enhance the coding experience:
- Code completions: Copilot is seamlessly integrated within Xcode, offering real-time code suggestions as developers type.
- Multi-language support: The tool supports various programming languages prevalent in the Apple ecosystem, including Swift and Objective-C, ensuring that developers can benefit from its intelligent assistance regardless of their preferred language.
- Multiline suggestions: While single-line suggestions are displayed by default, developers can access multiline suggestions by holding the Option key and pressing Option + Tab to accept the full suggestion.
- Content filtering: Advanced filters are in place to screen out harmful or inappropriate content from suggestions, promoting a safe and respectful coding environment.
- Block suggestions matching public code: Users can activate a duplicate detection filter that blocks suggestions that match public code available on GitHub.
In addition to the advancements for Windows Terminal and Xcode, Microsoft has rolled out several new updates for GitHub Copilot. Notably, GitHub Copilot Chat in VS Code, Visual Studio, and GitHub.com now features web search capabilities through the new Copilot Access to Bing. This enhancement allows developers to engage in discussions about recent events, new developments, trends, and technologies. For instance, they can inquire about the latest release of TypeScript or the schedule for the next major Node.js update. This feature is currently available for Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise users.
With ongoing enhancements and an expanding range of platform support, GitHub Copilot is set to become an essential tool for developers across diverse ecosystems, streamlining workflows and fostering innovation in coding practices.
