AI tools that help developers write code

 In this dynamic landscape, developers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) for assistance. AI-powered coding tools are rapidly transforming the development process, offering a new level of efficiency, accuracy, and creativity.

These intelligent companions go beyond simple syntax highlighting or code completion. They can understand your coding style, analyze your project's context, and offer suggestions and functionalities that empower you to write cleaner, more efficient code in less time. Whether you're a seasoned developer or just starting your coding journey, AI tools can be a valuable asset in your development toolkit.

We'll explore various AI tools that help developers write code and their functionalities, highlighting how they can:

• Boost your coding speed and efficiency

• Enhance code quality and maintainability

• Reduce errors and improve code clarity

• Open doors to new coding approaches and best practices

• Free up your mental energy for the creative problem-solving aspects of programming

AI tools that help developers write code

Below is the list of AI tools:

1. Tabnine

2. Codeium

3. PolyCoder

4. aiXcoder

5. Sourcery

6. Amazon SageMaker

7. Figstack

1. Tabnine

Tabnine is an AI-powered assistant designed to supercharge your coding experience. Imagine a helpful buddy who anticipates your needs and makes coding faster, easier, and more efficient.

Tabnine analyzes your code as you type, understanding the context and your coding style. It then suggests relevant completions, like entire lines of code, function calls, and variable names, tailored to your specific project. This context-awareness means you spend less time typing and more time focusing on the bigger picture.

No need to learn a new platform! Tabnine integrates with popular IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) and code editors like Visual Studio Code, PyCharm, and IntelliJ IDEA. Access Tabnine's features directly within your familiar development environment, eliminating the need to switch between tools and maintaining your preferred workflow.

Link - https://www.tabnine.com/

Programming Language Support:

• Python

• JavaScript

• Java

• C++

• C#

• Go

• PHP

• Ruby

• TypeScript

• C

• HTML

• CSS

• Kotlin

• Scala

• Dart

• Haskell

• Perl

• Lua

• Rust

• Swift

• Elixir

• SQL

Pricing:

Basic Plan (Free)

Pro Plan ($12 per user per month)

Enterprise Plan ($39 per user per month with 1 year commitment)

Features:

• Intelligent Code Completion: Tabnine analyzes your code and suggests relevant code snippets, variable names, function calls, and even whole lines of code as you type. This can significantly reduce the time spent on repetitive coding tasks.

• Multi-Language Support: Tabnine supports programming languages, including popular ones like Python, JavaScript, Java, C++, and more.

• Deep Learning Models: Tabnine utilizes deep learning models trained on massive amounts of code to provide accurate and context-aware suggestions.

• IDE Integration: Tabnine seamlessly integrates with popular Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Visual Studio Code, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, and more, enhancing your coding experience within your preferred environment.

• Real-Time Code Generation: Tabnine generates entire functions based on the context.

• Adapts to Coding Style: Tabnine learns from your coding patterns and suggests completions that align with your way of writing code, promoting consistency.

Benefits:

• Tabnine's intelligent suggestions can significantly reduce the time spent on typing code and searching for syntax.

• Tabnine can help developers write cleaner and more efficient code by suggesting best practices and relevant code snippets

• Tabnine's code completion helps prevent typos and syntax errors, leading to fewer bugs and a smoother development process.

• This eliminates the need to search for code examples, helping developers stay focused on the problem they're solving.

Limitations:

• The accuracy of Tabnine's suggestions depends on the quality and relevance of the code it's trained on. It might not always provide the best suggestions for niche coding domains.

• While Tabnine claims not to store or share your code without your permission, some developers might be doubtful about using an AI tool that analyzes their code.

2. Codeium

Codeium is an AI-powered toolkit designed to accelerate your coding process and make development more efficient. Codeium primarily functions through browser extensions. These extensions are available for popular IDEs like Visual Studio Code, PyCharm, WebStorm, and IntelliJ IDEA. Once installed, the extension embeds Codeium's functionalities directly within your IDE, making them readily accessible as you code.

Codeium offers a unique feature called "Codeium Chat." Imagine having a helpful AI assistant readily available to answer your coding questions and requests. Through Codeium Chat, you can:

• Generate boilerplate code for various functionalities.

• Refactor existing code to improve its structure or efficiency.

• Add documentation comments to your code for better clarity.

• Explain specific code snippets within your project.

• Suggest bug fixes or alternative approaches to coding challenges.

Link - https://codeium.com/

Programming Language Support:

• Python

• JavaScript

• Java

• C++

• C#

• Go

• PHP

• Ruby

• TypeScript

• Other: Assembly, Bash, C, Clojure, Cobol, CoffeeScript, Crystal, CSS, Dart, Elixir, Elm, Erlang, Forth, Fortran, F#, Golo, Groovy, Haskell, HTML, Idris, Ini, JADE, Java, JavaScript, JSON, Julia, Kotlin, Lasso, Less, Lisp, Lua, Makefile, Markdown, Mercury, Nim, Nix, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, PowerShell, Prolog, Puppet, Python, R, Razor, ReasonML, Red, Reduck, Ruby, Rust, SASS, Scala, Scheme, SCSS, Shell, SQL, Swift, Terraform, Tcl, TypeScript, Twig, VBScript, Verilog, VHDL, Vue.js, XML, XSLT, YAML

Pricing:

Individual Plan (1 seat) - Free

Teams Plan (up to 200 seats) - $12 per seat per month

Enterprise Plan (unlimited seats) - Contact

Features:

• AI-powered Autocomplete: Codeium suggests relevant code snippets, function names, variable names, and common coding patterns as you type. This streamlines development by reducing manual coding.

• Intelligent Search: Unlike traditional search methods, Codeium utilizes semantic understanding to find files and code snippets based on your intent, eliminating the need for complex regular expressions.

• AI-powered Chat: This feature allows you to interact with Codeium in a natural language format. You can describe the desired code functionality, request refactoring suggestions, or ask for help with documentation, and Codeium will generate the code or offer relevant solutions.

• Broad Language Support: A major advantage of Codeium is its extensive language support. It covers over 70 programming languages, making it a versatile tool for developers working with various technologies.

• In-House Models: Unlike some competitors that rely on third-party APIs, Codeium utilizes its own in-house models and infrastructure, potentially offering greater control over security and performance.

• Free Unlimited Usage: A significant perk of Codeium is its free plan with unrestricted access to all features. This makes it a budget-friendly option for individual developers or small teams.

Benefits:

• Reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks and searching for code elements.

• AI suggestions can help write cleaner, more consistent code by promoting best practices and reducing errors.

• By accelerating the coding process, Codeium allows developers to complete projects faster and focus on more complex problems.

• For beginners, Codeium can be a valuable learning resource by exposing them to best practices and different coding approaches.

• With broad language support, Codeium caters to developers working with diverse programming stacks.

Limitations:

• The accuracy of AI suggestions can vary depending on the programming language and the complexity of the code. It might not always provide perfect solutions, requiring developer judgment.

• Integrating Codeium with specific IDEs might require adjustments for seamless functionality.

• With the free plan, developers might have less control over the generation process compared to paid options with more customization features.

3. PolyCoder

PolyCoder takes a different approach compared to AI coding assistants like Tabnine or Codeium. Instead of focusing on real-time code completion or suggestions within your IDE, PolyCoder is an open-source project that deals with generating code from scratch.

PolyCoder excels at generating code based on natural language descriptions or high-level requirements. You provide a clear explanation of the functionality you want the code to achieve, and PolyCoder attempts to translate that description into actual code. This can be particularly useful for rapidly prototyping ideas or automating repetitive coding tasks.

Programming Language Support:

• Python

• Java

Adding support for new programming languages over time.

Pricing:

You can download and use the source code for free. There are no licensing fees or subscriptions required.

Features:

• Multilingual Code Generation: PolyCoder supports a range of programming languages, including popular ones like Python and Java. You can specify the desired language when generating code.

• Code Generation from Text Descriptions: Provide a natural language description of the functionality you want the code to achieve, and PolyCoder will attempt to generate the corresponding code.

• Large Dataset Training: PolyCoder is trained on a massive dataset of code, allowing it to generate code snippets that are idiomatic and relevant to the specified language.

• Open-Source Availability: The open-source nature of PolyCoder allows developers to contribute to its development, potentially improving its capabilities over time.

• Customization Potential: Being open-source, PolyCoder offers the potential for customization for developers with advanced programming knowledge.

Benefits:

• Generate basic code structures quickly based on your descriptions, saving time in the initial coding phase.

• PolyCoder allows developers to focus on more complex problem-solving aspects.

• It is a valuable tool for beginners to learn proper coding practices and explore different coding approaches by observing the generated code.

• Experiment with code generation for unfamiliar functionalities or languages, potentially leading to discoveries and solutions.

• Developers with strong programming skills can customize PolyCoder as per their specific needs.

Limitations:

• The accuracy and quality of the generated code depend on the clarity and detail of your text descriptions. Complex functionalities might require further refinement by the developer.

• It generates code based on its understanding of your descriptions. Fine-tuning and adjustments might be necessary to achieve the exact desired outcome.

• In case of errors in the generated code, debugging might be more complex as you'll need to understand both the generated code and your original description.

• Relying on an open-source tool might mean updates or bug fixes are not always guaranteed or immediate.

4. aiXcoder

aiXcoder offers functionalities that bridge the gap between natural language descriptions and working code. Imagine describing a function's purpose in plain English. aiXcoder boasts the ability to generate complete code for that function based on your natural language description. This can significantly reduce the time spent writing code from scratch, especially for complex functionalities.

If you prefer a cloud-based solution, aiXcoder offers a remote service mode. This mode allows you to leverage its functionalities through their servers. Benefits include potentially faster processing and less strain on your local machine's resources. However, a good internet connection is crucial for smooth operation.

For those who prefer to keep things local, aiXcoder provides an offline mode. This mode involves downloading the deep learning model used by aiXcoder to your computer. This allows you to use aiXcoder's functionalities without relying on the internet, but may require some technical expertise for setup and configuration.

Link - https://www.aixcoder.com/en/#/

Programming Language Support:

• Python

• Java

• JavaScript

• C#

• C/C++

• TypeScript

• Go

Pricing:

Download and use it

Features:

• Natural Language to Code Translation: The core functionality allows you to describe the desired code behavior in plain English. aiXcoder then attempts to translate your description into the corresponding code, potentially in multiple languages.

• Comprehensive Code Completion: Beyond natural language translation, aiXcoder offers traditional code completion features. As you type code, it suggests relevant code snippets, function calls, and variable names, accelerating your coding process.

• Local Code Analysis: aiXcoder analyzes your existing codebase to improve its suggestions and potentially identify areas for improvement. This can help maintain code quality and consistency.

Benefits:

• Natural language translation allows those with less coding experience to create basic code structures, lowering the initial barrier to entry.

• Boost coding speed and accuracy for experienced developers.

• Describe functionalities you might not be familiar with in code, and aiXcoder might generate code that introduces you to new approaches.

• Allows developers to focus on the core logic and problem-solving aspects.

Limitations:

• aiXcoder might generate code that requires refinement or may not capture the full nuances of your intent.

• The level of control over the generated code might be limited. You might need to adjust the code after generation to achieve the exact desired outcome.

• Debugging errors in code generated from natural language descriptions can be more complex, requiring you to understand both the generated code and your original description.

5. Sourcery

Sourcery is an AI code analysis and refactoring tool designed to help developers write cleaner, more maintainable code. It combines code generation and refactoring capabilities to offer a comprehensive solution for improving code quality.

Imagine having an AI assistant meticulously review your code changes like a seasoned colleague. Sourcery offers this very functionality. You can submit your code changes, and Sourcery provides an automated review analyzing:

• Overall changes made.

• High-level feedback on your coding practices.

• Line-by-line suggestions for improvement.

Sourcery integrates with popular IDEs like Visual Studio Code, PyCharm, and IntelliJ IDEA. This allows you to access its functionalities directly within your development environment, streamlining your workflow.

For those who prefer a command-line approach, Sourcery offers a CLI option. This allows you to analyze code or leverage its features from the command line without relying on an IDE.

Link - https://docs.sourcery.ai/Code-Review/Integrations/

Programming Language Support:

• Python

• Java

• JavaScript

• TypeScript

• C++

• C#

Pricing:

Basic Plan: Free

For all projects: $10 per month with 14 days free trial.

For teams: $30 per month per team member

Features:

• Code Analysis: Sourcery scans your codebase to identify potential issues like code smells, dead code, stylistic inconsistencies, and potential bugs. This helps developers pinpoint areas needing improvement.

• AI-powered Refactoring Suggestions: Based on its analysis, Sourcery suggests relevant refactoring techniques to improve code readability, maintainability, and efficiency. These suggestions can range from simple variable renaming to more complex code structure changes.

• Code Generation: Sourcery can also generate code snippets for repetitive tasks or commonly used patterns. This can save developers time and reduce the risk of introducing errors with manual coding.

• Customizable Rules: Sourcery allows developers to define custom coding rules and styles, ensuring the suggestions align with specific project guidelines or personal preferences.

• IDE Integration: Sourcery integrates seamlessly with popular IDEs like Visual Studio Code, PyCharm, and Sublime Text, making it easily accessible within your usual coding environment.

Benefits:

• Help developers write cleaner, more efficient, and maintainable code, reducing technical debt and potential bugs.

• By identifying areas for improvement and suggesting refactoring techniques, Sourcery saves developers time and mental effort, allowing them to focus on more complex coding challenges.

• With customizable rules, it provides consistent coding styles throughout the project, improving readability and collaboration for teams.

• With Direct integration with IDEs, Sourcery is readily available within the developer's workflow, promoting code analysis and improvement.

Limitations:

• It can sometimes misinterpret code or suggest unnecessary refactoring. Developer judgment is still essential to evaluate suggestions.

• Complex codebases or niche coding practices might not be fully understood by Sourcery, potentially limiting the effectiveness of the analysis and suggestions.

• It might flag potential issues that are not actual problems in the context of your specific codebase. A careful review of suggestions is important.

• It might not be suitable for highly complex functionalities, requiring manual coding intervention.

6. Amazon SageMaker

Amazon SageMaker is a cloud-based machine learning (ML) service offered by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It's designed to streamline the entire machine learning workflow, from data preparation and model training to deployment and monitoring.

SageMaker offers a wide range of pre-built algorithms and frameworks that cover various machine learning tasks, including classification, regression, recommendation systems, and natural language processing (NLP). This saves you time from building models from scratch and allows you to leverage proven algorithms for your specific needs.

If you have a pre-existing model trained outside of SageMaker, you can easily import and integrate it into the platform. This flexibility allows you to leverage your custom models alongside SageMaker's pre-built offerings.

Programming Language Support:

• Python

• R

• Java

• Julia

Pricing:

Amazon SageMaker Pricing Page: https://aws.amazon.com/sagemaker/pricing/

Amazon SageMaker follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, meaning you only pay for the resources you use.

• Training Jobs: You are charged based on the type of instance used to train your models. The cost depends on instance type (processing power, memory), instance hours used for training, and the chosen Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) pricing model (on-demand, spot instances, etc.).

• Hosting Endpoints: Once your model is trained, deploying it for real-time predictions incurs costs. These costs are based on the instance type used for hosting and the number of hours the endpoint is active.

• Storage:  SageMaker uses Amazon S3 for storing your training data, model artifacts, and logs. You'll be charged for the storage space used based on S3 pricing.

• Data Transfer:  There are charges for data transfer in and out of S3 buckets used by SageMaker.

Features:

• Managed Infrastructure: SageMaker eliminates the need to set up and manage servers or underlying infrastructure for ML tasks. It provides a managed environment with pre-configured resources, allowing developers to focus on building models.

• Algorithmic Variety: SageMaker offers built-in algorithms and pre-trained models covering Machine learning tasks like classification, regression, recommendation systems, and natural language processing (NLP). This saves time compared to building models from scratch.

• Bring Your Own (BYO) Algorithms: While SageMaker offers pre-built options, it also allows developers to use their custom algorithms and frameworks, providing flexibility for specific needs.

• Data Management: SageMaker offers tools for data preparation, including cleaning, transformation, and feature engineering. It also integrates with various AWS data storage services for convenient data access.

• Model Training and Tuning: SageMaker provides tools for training models on various data sources, including local storage, S3 buckets, and Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances. It also offers hyperparameter tuning capabilities to optimize model performance.

• Model Deployment: Once trained, SageMaker simplifies deploying models as real-time endpoints or batch processing jobs. You can integrate models with web applications or mobile apps for real-world usage.

• Monitoring and Debugging: SageMaker offers tools for monitoring model performance and debugging issues that might arise during training or deployment. This helps ensure model accuracy and reliability.

Benefits:

• Its managed infrastructure and pre-built options accelerate the ML development process, allowing developers to deploy models faster.

• By eliminating the need for upfront infrastructure investment and offering pay-as-you-go pricing, it can be a cost-effective solution for building and deploying ML models.

• SageMaker uses the scalability of AWS, allowing you to scale your ML resources based on your project needs.

• It integrates various tools and features into a unified platform, streamlining the ML development workflow from data preparation to deployment.

• Allows teams to collaborate on ML projects by providing a centralized platform for managing models, data, and experiments.

Limitations:

• Reliance on AWS can lead to vendor lock-in, making it potentially difficult and expensive to migrate your ML projects to a different cloud provider if needed.

• While offering pay-as-you-go pricing, costs can accumulate depending on the computing resources used for training and model inference.

• While SageMaker allows some customization, developers might face limitations in building and deploying models from scratch on non-managed platforms.

7. Figstack

Figstack is an AI-powered tool designed to assist developers in understanding complex codebases. It uses artificial intelligence to analyze code structure, relationships between different parts, and overall architecture, providing valuable insights for developers working on unfamiliar or large projects.

You can translate code from one language (like Python) to another (like Javascript) with ease. This can be helpful for collaboration or code reuse across different language environments.

Figstack's "Time Complexity" feature analyzes your code and measures its efficiency using Big O notation. This helps you understand how the code's performance scales with increasing data size. This knowledge is crucial for optimizing your code and ensuring efficient resource utilization.

Figstack integrates with popular IDEs (Integrated Development Environments) like Visual Studio Code, PyCharm, and IntelliJ IDEA. This allows you to access Figstack's functionalities directly within your familiar development environment, eliminating the need to switch between tools and maintaining your preferred workflow.

Programming Language Support:

• Python

• JavaScript (including frameworks like React, Angular, and Vue.js)

• TypeScript

• Java

• C# (particularly for backend development)

• PHP

• C++

• Go

• Ruby

• Shell scripting languages (Bash, Zsh)

Pricing:

Basic Plan: Free

Starter Plan: $9 per month

Unlimited Plan: $29 per month

Features:

• Code Analysis and Visualization: Figstack analyzes your codebase and generates visual representations of its structure. This can include dependency graphs, component relationships, and call flows, making it easier to understand how different parts of the code interact.

• Code Search with Context: Go beyond simple keyword searches. Figstack's search functionality considers the context of your codebase, allowing you to find relevant code elements based on their relationships and usage within the system.

• Impact Analysis: Evaluate the potential consequences of code changes. Figstack can identify parts of the codebase that might be affected by modifications, helping developers anticipate and avoid unintended side effects.

• Navigation Assistance: Figstack simplifies navigation within large codebases. It suggests relevant files and code sections to explore based on your current location and task, saving you time and effort.

• Integration with Development Tools: Figstack integrates with popular IDEs and code editors, making its features readily available within your familiar development environment.

Benefits:

• Visualizations and context-aware searches can significantly reduce the time for new developers to understand an existing codebase.

• Developers can make more informed decisions about code changes, leading to cleaner and more maintainable code.

• Figstack's impact analysis can help pinpoint areas where code changes might introduce bugs, streamlining the debugging process.

• Navigation assistance and context-aware search features save developers time searching for relevant code sections, allowing them to focus on core development tasks.

Limitations:

• The accuracy and effectiveness of Figstack's analysis depend on the quality and complexity of the codebase. The visualizations might be less clear or informative for huge or unstructured codebases.

• It doesn't directly modify code or suggest specific refactoring solutions.

Choosing the Right AI Companion for Your Coding Journey

From code completion and intelligent search to code generation and automated reviews, these tools offer a wide range of functionalities to cater to various development needs and preferences.

The ideal AI assistant for you depends on your specific workflow, coding style, and project requirements. Here are some factors to consider when making your choice:

• Core functionalities: Identify the functionalities most valuable to you. Do you need real-time code completion, in-depth code review features, or perhaps AI-powered code generation capabilities?

• Integration with your IDE: Ensure the tool seamlessly integrates with your preferred development environment for a smooth workflow.

• Learning curve and user interface: Consider the tool's ease of use and how quickly you can adapt to its functionalities. Some tools offer user-friendly interfaces, while others might require more technical expertise.

• Cost and pricing models: Explore the available plans and pricing structures. While some tools offer freemium models, others might require subscriptions to unlock full functionality.

• Open-source vs. commercial tools: Open-source tools can be a great option for customization and community support, but commercial tools often offer more robust features and guaranteed ongoing development.

Ultimately, the best way to choose your AI coding assistant is to explore and experiment. Many tools offer free trials or limited functionality in their free plans, allowing you to test them out and see which one best complements your coding style and workflow.

As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect even more sophisticated and powerful coding assistants to emerge. These AI companions have the potential to revolutionize software development, empowering developers to create innovative solutions at an unprecedented pace. So, embrace the future of coding and explore the exciting world of AI-powered development tools!