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Microsoft

Did you know developers using AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot are significantly more productive and make fewer errors? Join along in this course and become a more efficient and productive developer with the power of AI at your fingertips.

This Short Course is designed to equip developers with the skills to effectively use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code, streamlining their coding process. By mastering Copilot, you'll write code faster and with greater accuracy, directly enhancing your software development capabilities.

Read more

Did you know developers using AI coding tools like GitHub Copilot are significantly more productive and make fewer errors? Join along in this course and become a more efficient and productive developer with the power of AI at your fingertips.

This Short Course is designed to equip developers with the skills to effectively use GitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code, streamlining their coding process. By mastering Copilot, you'll write code faster and with greater accuracy, directly enhancing your software development capabilities.

With just a 3-hour commitment, you'll master setting up GitHub Copilot with Visual Studio Code, building a Pomodoro timer app, and applying best practices in refactoring, testing, and debugging. This course is designed to make learning easy and enjoyable for you

This course is unique because it combines theoretical knowledge with practical application, allowing you to implement what you've learned in real-world scenarios immediately. Basic coding knowledge in React, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS and familiarity with Visual Studio Code and GitHub are recommended to ensure success.

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What's inside

Syllabus

Developing with GitHub Copilot and VS Code
By the end of this lesson, learners will be familiar with the course objectives, syllabus and will have met the instructor.
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Traffic lights

Read about what's good
what should give you pause
and possible dealbreakers
Teaches developers to integrate AI coding tools into their workflow, enhancing productivity and accuracy
Suitable for developers with basic coding knowledge in React, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS and familiarity with Visual Studio Code and GitHub
Practical approach with a focus on hands-on learning through building a Pomodoro timer app
Taught by Microsoft, a recognized leader in the field of software development

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Reviews summary

Boosting developer productivity with github copilot

According to learners, this course offers a highly practical and time-efficient introduction to GitHub Copilot within VS Code, significantly improving developer productivity. Many students highlight the clear setup guidance and the hands-on activities, such as building a Pomodoro timer, as particularly valuable for streamlining their coding workflow and gaining immediate application. While it serves as an excellent entry point for beginners to AI coding tools, some more experienced developers found the content too introductory, expressing a desire for deeper dives into advanced refactoring or testing strategies.
Short duration allows for quick learning and immediate application.
"A perfect short course for quick learning and immediate application."
"The content is concise, which is both a strength and a slight weakness."
"I appreciated that it was well-paced and that I could finish it quickly."
Provides an accessible and well-structured entry point for new users.
"Absolutely brilliant! As someone new to GitHub Copilot, this course provided a fantastic introduction."
"The step-by-step guide on setting up VS Code and using Copilot was exactly what I needed."
"I found it perfect for quickly grasping Copilot's utility and clearing up my struggles."
Enhances coding efficiency through hands-on application of AI tools.
"This course was a game-changer for my workflow! ... I immediately felt the productivity boost with GitHub Copilot."
"My coding speed has definitely increased after taking this course. Super useful!"
"I learned to integrate Copilot directly into my VS Code workflow, which has been a huge time-saver."
Experienced developers sought more advanced topics and complex scenarios.
"I already had some familiarity with Copilot, so some parts felt a bit basic."
"As an experienced developer, I was hoping for more advanced techniques or insights."
"The title 'Developing with GitHub Copilot' implies more actual development concepts beyond basic use. Too simplistic for me."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in Developing with GitHub Copilot and VS Code with these activities:
Review coding concepts
Refreshes basic coding concepts to ensure a strong foundation for the course.
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  • Go over notes or textbooks from previous coding courses or tutorials.
  • Review online resources or tutorials to reinforce understanding of core concepts.
Follow tutorials on setting up GitHub Copilot
Provides a guided approach to setting up and using GitHub Copilot effectively.
Show steps
  • Find and follow tutorials on how to set up GitHub Copilot with Visual Studio Code.
  • Follow the steps in the tutorials to connect GitHub Copilot to your account and configure it for use.
Summarize and share key concepts
Writing summaries of key concepts from the course will help you solidify your understanding and identify any areas where you need further clarification.
Show steps
  • Review the lesson materials
  • Identify the main concepts
  • Write a summary in your own words
  • Share your summary with classmates
Five other activities
Expand to see all activities and additional details
Show all eight activities
Complete practice exercises
Reinforces skills by providing hands-on practice using GitHub Copilot in a controlled environment.
Browse courses on AI-Assisted Coding
Show steps
  • Find online coding challenges or exercises that align with the course content.
  • Use GitHub Copilot to assist in solving the coding challenges.
  • Review the solutions and identify areas for improvement in using GitHub Copilot.
Build a simple app using GitHub Copilot
Provides an opportunity to apply GitHub Copilot in a practical setting, solidifying learning.
Browse courses on Project-Based Learning
Show steps
  • Choose a simple app idea that aligns with the course content.
  • Plan the app's structure and functionality.
  • Start coding the app using GitHub Copilot to assist with code generation and suggestions.
  • Test the app and identify areas for improvement.
Organize and review course materials
Ensures students have a well-organized and accessible repository of course materials for future reference.
Browse courses on Note-Taking
Show steps
  • Review lecture notes, slides, and other course materials.
  • Organize materials into a logical structure, such as folders or digital notebooks.
  • Highlight important concepts and make annotations for future reference.
Prepare a presentation on AI-assisted development
Challenges students to synthesize their knowledge and effectively communicate their understanding.
Browse courses on Presentation Skills
Show steps
  • Research different aspects of AI-assisted development.
  • Create a presentation outlining the benefits, challenges, and applications of AI-assisted development.
  • Practice delivering the presentation to improve clarity and engagement.
Mentor junior developers
Provides an opportunity to reinforce learning by teaching and guiding others.
Browse courses on Mentorship
Show steps
  • Identify opportunities to mentor junior developers through online platforms or local coding communities.
  • Share your knowledge and experience to help others learn and grow in their coding journey.
  • Provide guidance and support to help junior developers overcome challenges and achieve their goals.

Career center

Learners who complete Developing with GitHub Copilot and VS Code will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Reading list

We've selected 41 books that we think will supplement your learning. Use these to develop background knowledge, enrich your coursework, and gain a deeper understanding of the topics covered in Developing with GitHub Copilot and VS Code.
This classic textbook covers a wide range of AI topics, including search algorithms, knowledge representation, and natural language processing, and is written by leading AI researchers.
Full-lifecycle AI coding workflows with GitHub Copilot span architectural planning, SQL query generation, automated test suites, and CI/CD scripting. Tom Taulli balances productivity gains with candid coverage of licensing risks, security scanning, and human code review.
Provides an in-depth look at Visual Studio Code, including how to use it to build web applications, mobile apps, and data science projects.
Foundation model architecture, context window management, retrieval-augmented generation, and evaluation pipelines explain how coding assistants like GitHub Copilot operate under the hood. Chip Huyen equips engineers to build and audit production AI developer tooling.
Context structuring, few-shot exemplars, chain-of-thought reasoning, and deterministic output formatting directly improve GitHub Copilot Chat and inline code generation. Phoenix and Taylor provide battle-tested patterns for steering large language models in code-heavy tasks.
Side-by-side benchmarks pitting human problem-solving against GitHub Copilot and ChatGPT reveal exactly where AI coding assistants excel and where subtle bugs hide. David Mertz uses twenty-four tricky regex puzzles to sharpen developer verification and prompt refinement skills.
Authored by a renowned AI researcher, this book provides a theoretical and conceptual understanding of machine learning algorithms and their applications.
Large language model APIs, function calling, and agentic tool execution share the exact capabilities powering GitHub Copilot Workspace and extensions. Caelen and Blete guide developers through building code-aware assistants and automated developer workflows.
Classic in the JavaScript community, and it is still one of the best books on the language. Crockford leading expert on JavaScript, and his book is full of insights and best practices.
Visual mental models of commits, branches, staging areas, and remote pull requests enable developers to checkpoint and review AI-generated diffs with confidence. Anna Skoulikari provides the essential version-control foundation for collaborating on GitHub.
Distributed version control internals, interactive rebasing, git bisect debugging, and GitHub pull request workflows remain indispensable when integrating rapid Copilot changes. Chacon and Straub's authoritative reference teaches engineers how to maintain clean commit histories.
Tactical programming that prioritizes speed over clean abstractions quickly buries teams in complexity—a danger amplified by uncritical use of AI autocomplete. John Ousterhout teaches developers how to design deep modules and clear interfaces before prompting for implementation.
Characterization tests, dependency-breaking seams, and sprout methods allow engineers to wrap untested code in safety harnesses before asking GitHub Copilot to refactor it. Michael Feathers provides the defensive testing playbook every AI-augmented developer needs.
Authored by pioneers in the field, this book provides a comprehensive overview of reinforcement learning, a powerful technique for training AI agents to make decisions in complex environments.
Problem decomposition, specification writing, and systematic code reading replace rote syntax memorization when programming alongside GitHub Copilot. Computer science educators Leo Porter and Daniel Zingaro teach learners how to prompt, test, and debug AI-generated functions safely.
IDE integration, inline ghost-text completions, Copilot Chat slash commands, and unit test generation receive hands-on coverage across enterprise languages. Kurt Dowswell demonstrates how to engineer comment-driven prompts, refactor legacy logic, and enforce security guardrails.
Step-by-step exercises pair core programming fundamentals with GitHub Copilot completions, chat refactoring, and automated unit testing. Scott McCoy and Mary Delamater show students and working developers how to guide Copilot without surrendering code comprehension.
Securing codebases built with generative assistants requires defending against probabilistic failure modes, injected dependencies, and non-deterministic outputs. Stephen R. Jordan outlines modern application security controls tailored for AI-augmented engineering teams.
Practical workflows for configuring GitHub Copilot in VS Code, translating between programming languages, and generating documentation help developers accelerate daily tasks. Chris Minnick walks readers through iterative prompting, bug diagnosis, and full-stack prototyping.
Explores natural language processing, a branch of AI that deals with understanding and generating human language, and provides a practical approach using the Python programming language.
This advanced book explores probabilistic graphical models, a powerful tool for representing and reasoning about complex probability distributions, with applications in AI and machine learning.
Practical guide to using React Hooks, a new set of features introduced in React 16.8. It covers the use of hooks for state management, side effects, and custom functions, making it suitable for beginner and intermediate React developers who want to learn how to leverage the power of hooks.
Covers the full stack development process using React, including setting up a development environment, building a RESTful API, and deploying to production. It provides a comprehensive guide for beginners who want to learn full-stack development with React.
Comprehensive guide to Node.js, a popular JavaScript runtime environment. It covers all the basics, as well as more advanced topics such as scaling and testing. It's a great book for anyone who wants to learn Node.js in depth.
Fast-paced guide to JavaScript for experienced programmers. It covers all the basics, as well as more advanced topics such as closures and functional programming. It's a great book for anyone who wants to learn JavaScript quickly.
Distinguishing accidental syntax hurdles from essential conceptual complexity explains why AI coding assistants accelerate typing yet cannot replace architectural judgment. Fred Brooks's classic essays offer timeless perspective on developer productivity and software design integrity.
Navigating the jagged frontier of large language model capabilities requires knowing when to delegate, when to verify, and how to prevent human skill atrophy. Wharton professor Ethan Mollick frames the cognitive habits that make pair programming with AI effective.
Teaches how to build cross-platform mobile applications using React Native. It covers the core concepts of mobile development, including navigation, gestures, and camera integration, making it suitable for React developers who want to build native mobile applications.
Explores advanced techniques and patterns for building scalable, maintainable, and performant React applications. It covers topics such as state management, dependency injection, and code organization, making it suitable for intermediate and experienced React developers.
While primarily focused on linear algebra, this book also covers AI applications such as image processing and computer vision, providing a unique perspective on AI coding.
Comprehensive guide to JavaScript, covering all the basics for beginners. It is well-written and easy to follow, making it a great starting point for anyone who wants to learn JavaScript.
Gentle introduction to JavaScript for kids. It covers all the basics, as well as some more advanced topics such as loops and functions. It's a great book for kids who want to learn JavaScript in a fun and accessible way.

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