GitHub Copilot Enhances Coding with Code Referencing Feature 📚💻🤖

GitHub Copilot has influenced how developers approach coding, but there have been concerns about it generating code too similar to public repositories. To address this, GitHub introduced a feature in 2022 to block such suggestions automatically. However, there was a demand for a more flexible approach, allowing developers to view these code fragments. In response, GitHub has launched a private beta of a code referencing feature for Copilot. This feature displays matching code suggestions in a sidebar, letting developers decide whether to use them. While initially designed to block matching codes automatically, GitHub recognized the potential for developers to either utilize existing libraries or contribute to them. This new feature provides more context, especially for common algorithms. The underlying system relies on a fast search engine to identify matching codes. While currently, it presents matches in the order found, future updates might allow sorting by factors like a license or commit date.