So, what exactly is GitHub Copilot?
Well, in the end, it is an IDE extension you can add to different IDEs,
to Visual Studio Code for example, but not just to that.
And it is an extension that adds AI-powered features to those IDEs,
so that as a developer you can use these features to write code more efficiently.
Most importantly, it adds smart AI-powered code completion and suggestions generated by AI.
And you probably already know that you probably already used this,
but of course we're also going to use it in this course,
and you'll maybe learn a thing or two about how to use this feature efficiently.
It also allows us to generate entire blocks of code with AI right from inside the IDE,
so that you don't need to go to some external website like ChatGPT to do that.
And it got a code-aware chat you can use to ask questions about your code,
to have it generate unit tests for your code,
to ask questions about CLI commands, your terminal commands you might want to run,
and many other useful related features.
Now, it is important to note that GitHub Copilot is an extension you need to install,
and whilst the installation is free, you have to pay,
you have to have a subscription set up through GitHub.com to actually use it.
You need to sign in with your GitHub account, and you must have a paid subscription there.
Now, the next lecture contains more details about that setup process,
because there also are different plans depending on whether you're just using it on your own,
or if you're part of an organization, but that's in a nutshell what GitHub Copilot is.
Now, it's worth noting that, of course, GitHub Copilot, like all these AI tools,
is constantly evolving.
It's getting new features, the existing features are getting better,
and therefore, of course, the Copilot today might not be what it is in a year.
In a year, it might be able to do more.
But the core features added here have always been, and will probably always be,
the heart, the foundation of GitHub Copilot,
and that's why we'll take a closer look at them and some related features throughout this section.