
Tosca tester
With the increasing complexity of software systems, the importance of effective and comprehensive testing becomes paramount. Developers face the challenge of ensuring thorough test coverage while optimizing their workflows to meet project deadlines. GitHub Copilot offers a promising solution to this challenge by providing relevant code suggestions.
GitHub Copilot is an AI-powered tool integrated into a code editor that can write code on its own based on code you’ve already written in a project. All you have to do is enter a function name or a few comments and Copilot will automatically complete the implementation. The tool processes user input in the cloud and returns a snippet (code snippet) that you can accept, reject or ask for further solution suggestions. This tool was developed by GitHub in collaboration with OpenAI.
GitHub Copilot helps developers by providing contextually relevant code suggestions when writing code in integrated development environments (IDEs). By analyzing code context and comments, GitHub Copilot offers suggestions for completing code snippets, writing functions, and even generating entire methods or classes. The goal of this tool is to increase developer productivity and streamline the coding process by reducing the need to manually write repetitive code.
If you want to read more about GitHub Copilot, just click here – github copilot documentation. If you’re interested in a pricing, click on github copilot pricing.
You write a string of code or a comment and it suggests a snippet of code. In some cases, just the function name or part of it is enough to generate the rest of the code. The code is generated uniquely for you, so it belongs to you.
Below is a brief overview of exactly how Copilot works:
SOURCE: github.com
Copilot creates ten designs at once. When you enter more code, the designs will be more accurate.
The IDEs or editors that Copilot currently supports are Visual Studio Code, Visual Studio, Vim, Neovim, JetBrains (PyCharm), Azure Data Studio.
If you want to use the power of Copilot for software testing, you can simply set it up as an extension to Visual Studio Code. Once installed, Copilot will become a valuable asset in your development environment, offering real-time code completion suggestions tailored to your current context.
As one of the most popular IDEs in the developer community, VS Code provides excellent support for extensions, making it an ideal choice for Copilot integration.
Let’s take a look at a practical approach to understanding the impact of Copilot on software testing. Let’s imagine a scenario in which we need to write test cases for a web application registration form. We start by creating a new test suite in the project and defining the initial structure of the test scenario, including test steps and expected results.
// Testovací scenár: Registračný formulár používateľa
describe('User Registration', () => {
it('should allow users to register with valid credentials', () => {
// Testovacie kroky, ktoré sa majú dokončiť pomocou návrhov systému Copilot
});
it('should display an error message for invalid email addresses', () => {
// Testovacie kroky, ktoré sa majú dokončiť pomocou návrhov systému Copilot
});
it('should require a password with a minimum length of 8 characters', () => {
// Testovacie kroky, ktoré sa majú dokončiť pomocou návrhov systému Copilot
});
});
When we start writing test scenarios for our user registration form, Copilot proves to be an indispensable helper. When we enter test steps, Copilot immediately starts suggesting code snippets that match the context. Let’s take a look at how Copilot helps us perform some of the testing steps.
it('should allow users to register with valid credentials', () => {
// Návrh Copilota pre zadanie a odoslanie formulára
cy.visit('/register');
cy.get('#username').type('testuser');
cy.get('#email').type('testuser@example.com');
cy.get('#password').type('secretpassword');
cy.get('#submit').click();
cy.url().should('include', '/dashboard');
});
Copilot provided an efficient code snippet to interact with the registration form elements and simulate user registration with valid login credentials. This significantly reduced the time and effort required to write the test steps.
it('should display an error message for invalid email addresses', () => {
// Návrh Copilot pre zadanie neplatnej e-mailovej adresy
cy.visit('/register');
cy.get('#email').type('invalidemail');
cy.get('#submit').click();
cy.get('.error-message').should('be.visible').and('have.text', 'Invalid email address');
});
In this example, Copilot effectively designed a test case to verify the display of an error message when an invalid email address is entered into the registration form.
In the provided code context, .cy refers to a function that is typically used in end-to-end (E2E) testing using Cypress, a popular JavaScript testing framework. Cypress is designed to facilitate E2E testing for web applications and provides an elegant and easy-to-use API for interacting with elements on a web page.
In Cypress, the cy.get() statement is used to search and select DOM elements on a page. It allows testers to interact with these elements by performing actions such as clicking, typing, or verifying their properties and content. The cy.get() command uses a CSS selector or a jQuery-like expression to identify the element(s) to be selected.
For example, consider the following code snippet, which uses cy.get() in a Cypress test:
cy.get(‘#username’).type(‘testuser’);
In this case, cy.get(‘#username’) selects the input field with the ID attribute set to “username” on the web page. The .type(‘testuser’) method then simulates entering the text “testuser” into the selected input field.
GitHub Copilot understands also other languages than English! This is useful for developers of all nationalities because the programming languages are based on American English. Forgetting correct spelling and syntax can often lead to typos, unexpected errors and wasted time.
For example, if you type a comment in Spanish that reads “importar”, which translates to “import”, GitHub Copilot quickly completes the comment in Spanish and imports the necessary libraries as described in the comment. In addition, GitHub Copilot helps translate words from English into other languages.
GitHub Copilot is great for creating dictionaries with search data. Try this by writing a comment instructing GitHub Copilot to create a dictionary of two-letter ISO country codes and their country names. Writing a comment and the first few lines of code should help GitHub Copilot generate the desired results. For a visual representation, see the picture below.
Writing tests is an important but sometimes tedious step in the software development lifecycle. Since GitHub Copilot excels at pattern recognition and completion, it can speed up the process of writing unit tests, visual regression tests, and more.
With GitHub Copilot, you can spend less time playing with Regex playground or going through StackOverflow to find combinations of characters in strings. Instead, you can type a comment or a function name and run Copilot’s GitHub suggestions.
Use Copilot to help verify the phone number:
GitHub Copilot will also help you remove white spaces from the string:
Although it may sound unconventional, developers use GitHub Copilot to study for interviews.
Here’s the strategy:
First, try to solve the problem without GitHub Copilot. If you feel stuck and frustrated when solving a problem, activate GitHub Copilot and use it to generate ideas on how to solve the problem.
Then delete the code generated by GitHub Copilot, deactivate GitHub Copilot, and try to think of the solution with the new information in your head. By mastering this method, you’ll maintain momentum when you’re tempted to quit. Instead of giving up, you gain a new perspective, even if you don’t have a mentor or colleague to guide you.
Developers who are new to Vim often ask how to quit the editor. Vim editor termination difficulties are so common that they have become a meme on the internet. Since GitHub Copilot is available in Visual Studio Code, JetBrains, and Neovim, a forked version of Vim with additional features, you can quit NeoVim with GitHub Copilot. In the following video, Brian Douglas uses GitHub Copilot to quit NeoVim by typing a comment that reads, “How do I quit vim?”
GitHub Copilot Labs is an add-on extension that comes with access to GitHub Copilot. The GitHub Next team developed GitHub Copilot Labs, an experimental sidebar that helps developers translate code from one programming language to another and get step-by-step explanations of code snippets.
Although Github Copilot has its limitations, it represents a significant step forward in using the power of AI for software testing. As the technology continues to evolve, Copilot and similar AI tools are poised to become valuable assets in the software testing arsenal.
By striking the right balance between automation and human ingenuity, testers can leverage Copilot’s full potential to optimize their testing efforts. If you want to try Copilot straight away, here is a link to the copilot extension.
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