My team is dealing with a massive legacy codebase in Java, and we’re trying to refactor it into microservices. We’ve been using ChatGPT to explain snippets, but would GitHub Copilot be a better "daily" tool for actual refactoring? I want to know which one saves more time when you're working within a complex IDE environment like IntelliJ.
3 answers
For daily work, Copilot is the winner because it has the "context" of your entire project. ChatGPT only knows what you paste into the window. With Copilot in IntelliJ, I can just highlight a messy 500-line class and hit "Refactor." It understands the internal dependencies much better than ChatGPT. In late 2023, we saw a 30% increase in our sprint velocity because our devs weren't stuck deciphering old code anymore. However, I still use ChatGPT for high-level architectural questions, like "How should I split this monolith?"
Crystal, do you worry that using Copilot makes the developers "lazy"? I've seen some PRs lately where the code looks perfect but doesn't actually handle exceptions properly because the AI ignored them.
I use both! ChatGPT for the "plan" and Copilot for the "execution." It’s the best way to stay productive.
Lauren, that's the "pro" workflow right there. Using the right tool for the right stage of the development cycle is key.
Sean, that is why code reviews are more important than ever. We've updated our guidelines to state that "AI-assisted code requires double the scrutiny." You can't just blind-merge. The goal isn't to let the AI think for you; it's to let the AI handle the syntax so you can spend your brainpower on the security and error-handling logic.