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When I tried Copilot the "better tab complete" felt quite annoying, in that the constantly changing suggested completion kept dragging my focus away from what I

When I tried Copilot the "better tab complete" felt quite annoying, in that the constantly changing suggested completion kept dragging my focus away from what I was writing. That clearly doesn't happen for you. Was that something you got used to over time, or did that just not happen for you? There were elements of it I found useful, but I just couldn't get over the flickering of my attention from what I was doing to the suggested completions. Edit: I also really want something that takes the existing codebase in the form of a VSCode project / GitHub repo and uses that as a basis for suggestions. Does Copilot do that now?

goosejuice 2y ago
Copilot is also very slow. I'm surprised people use it to be honest. Just use Cursor.
- pindab0ter 2y ago
  Cursor requires you to use their specific IDE though, doesn't it? With Copilot I don't have to switch contexts as it lives in my Jetbrains IDE.
  - goosejuice 2y ago
    It's just vscode. I greatly prefer vim but the difference between vim + ai tools and cursor is just a no brainer in terms of productivity. Cursor isn't without problems but it's leagues ahead of the competition in my opinion.
    - verdverm 2y ago
      I've been tempted to try Cursor because of vocal fans like yourself. Then I went to their website and forums yesterday. I am no longer tempted.
      - rob137 2y ago
        Can you say more?
        verdverm 2y ago
        pricing model, downtime, model support, pricing model, trying to take over the experience rather than assist within my experience. This last one is big, because Cursor wants to "reimagine" how developers work. The problem is the AIs are so far from being competent, they need to be kept on the sidelines and sub'd in occasionally, not be the quarterback. Oh, did I mention pricing model?
        IanCal 2y ago
        It's a cost per month, supports the top models (tbh sonnet 3.5 is the key model) and is VS code + some more UI. > trying to take over the experience rather than assist within my experience I'm not sure I understand. It's got autocomplete, chat, asking it to change files, but it's vscode plus some stuff. What's it "taking over"?
        goosejuice 2y ago
        It doesn't sound like you have a good understanding of cursor based on your comments. I'd suggest giving the trial a shot.
      - goosejuice 2y ago
        Because of the complaints? If so, yeah I get it. I'm there amongst them. It's kind of like Tesla FSD. There are often setbacks in releases and they definitely need to work on their communication with the community. That said, for the current price it's still worth any misgivings.
        verdverm 2y ago
        The price is one of the issues I have with this space more generally. I do not want to pay $20/m for a capped experience I want to pay $10/m to support development, and pay for my AI usage on my own, per request, by choosing my own model and provider If I was going to shell out money, it would be for Copilot, not Cursor. I prefer my AI to be a side dish, not the main course or core experience
Aeolun 2y ago
Cursor tab does that. Or at least, it takes other open tabs into account when making suggestions.
macNchz 2y ago
I tried to get used to the tab completion tools a few times but always found it distracting like you describe. often I’d have a complete thought, start writing the code, get a suggested completion, start reading it, realize it was wrong, but then I’d have lost my initial thought, or at least have to pause and bring myself back to it. I have, however, fully adopted chat-to-patch style workflows like Aider, I find it much less intrusive and distracting than the tab completions, since I can give it my entire thought rather than some code to try to complete. I do think there’s promise in more autonomous tools, but they still very much fall into the compounding-error traps that agents often do at the present.
sincerely 2y ago
i’ve been very impressed with the gemini autocomplete suggestions in google colab, and it doesn’t feel more/less distracting than any IDEs built in tab suggestions
- verdverm 2y ago
  I think a lot of people who are enabling copilot in vs code (like I did a few days ago), are experiencing "suggested autocomplete as I type" for the first time where before there was no grey text below what I am writing personally. It is a huge distraction, especially if it changes as I write more. I turned it off almost immediately. I deeply regret turning on copilot in vscode. It (M$) immediately weaseled into so many places and settings. I'm still trying to scaled it back. Super annoying and distracting. I'd prefer a much more opt in for each feature than what they did.
mattnewton 2y ago
I would try cursor. It’s pretty good at copy pasting the relevant parts of the codebase in and out of the chat window. I have the tab autocomplete disabled.
wrsh07 2y ago
For cursor you can chat and ask @codebase and it will do rag (or equivalent) to answer your question
CGamesPlay 2y ago
I have the automatic suggestions turned off. I use a keybind to activate it when I want it. > existing codebase in the form of a VSCode project / GitHub repo and uses that as a basis for suggestions What are you actually looking for? Copilot uses "all of github" via training, and your current project in the context.
- frereubu 2y ago
  > I have the automatic suggestions turned off. I use a keybind to activate it when I want it. I didn't realise you could do that. Might give it another go. > Copilot uses "all of github" via training, and your current project in the context. The current project context is the bit I didn't think it had. Thanks!

goosejuice 2y ago

Copilot is also very slow. I'm surprised people use it to be honest. Just use Cursor.

pindab0ter 2y ago
Cursor requires you to use their specific IDE though, doesn't it? With Copilot I don't have to switch contexts as it lives in my Jetbrains IDE.
- goosejuice 2y ago
  It's just vscode. I greatly prefer vim but the difference between vim + ai tools and cursor is just a no brainer in terms of productivity. Cursor isn't without problems but it's leagues ahead of the competition in my opinion.
  - verdverm 2y ago
    I've been tempted to try Cursor because of vocal fans like yourself. Then I went to their website and forums yesterday. I am no longer tempted.
    - rob137 2y ago
      Can you say more?
      - verdverm 2y ago
        pricing model, downtime, model support, pricing model, trying to take over the experience rather than assist within my experience. This last one is big, because Cursor wants to "reimagine" how developers work. The problem is the AIs are so far from being competent, they need to be kept on the sidelines and sub'd in occasionally, not be the quarterback. Oh, did I mention pricing model?
        IanCal 2y ago
        It's a cost per month, supports the top models (tbh sonnet 3.5 is the key model) and is VS code + some more UI. > trying to take over the experience rather than assist within my experience I'm not sure I understand. It's got autocomplete, chat, asking it to change files, but it's vscode plus some stuff. What's it "taking over"?
        goosejuice 2y ago
        It doesn't sound like you have a good understanding of cursor based on your comments. I'd suggest giving the trial a shot.
    - goosejuice 2y ago
      Because of the complaints? If so, yeah I get it. I'm there amongst them. It's kind of like Tesla FSD. There are often setbacks in releases and they definitely need to work on their communication with the community. That said, for the current price it's still worth any misgivings.
      - verdverm 2y ago
        The price is one of the issues I have with this space more generally. I do not want to pay $20/m for a capped experience I want to pay $10/m to support development, and pay for my AI usage on my own, per request, by choosing my own model and provider If I was going to shell out money, it would be for Copilot, not Cursor. I prefer my AI to be a side dish, not the main course or core experience

Aeolun 2y ago

Cursor tab does that. Or at least, it takes other open tabs into account when making suggestions.

macNchz 2y ago

I tried to get used to the tab completion tools a few times but always found it distracting like you describe. often I’d have a complete thought, start writing the code, get a suggested completion, start reading it, realize it was wrong, but then I’d have lost my initial thought, or at least have to pause and bring myself back to it. I have, however, fully adopted chat-to-patch style workflows like Aider, I find it much less intrusive and distracting than the tab completions, since I can give it my entire thought rather than some code to try to complete. I do think there’s promise in more autonomous tools, but they still very much fall into the compounding-error traps that agents often do at the present.

sincerely 2y ago

i’ve been very impressed with the gemini autocomplete suggestions in google colab, and it doesn’t feel more/less distracting than any IDEs built in tab suggestions

verdverm 2y ago
I think a lot of people who are enabling copilot in vs code (like I did a few days ago), are experiencing "suggested autocomplete as I type" for the first time where before there was no grey text below what I am writing personally. It is a huge distraction, especially if it changes as I write more. I turned it off almost immediately. I deeply regret turning on copilot in vscode. It (M$) immediately weaseled into so many places and settings. I'm still trying to scaled it back. Super annoying and distracting. I'd prefer a much more opt in for each feature than what they did.

mattnewton 2y ago

I would try cursor. It’s pretty good at copy pasting the relevant parts of the codebase in and out of the chat window. I have the tab autocomplete disabled.

wrsh07 2y ago

For cursor you can chat and ask @codebase and it will do rag (or equivalent) to answer your question

CGamesPlay 2y ago

I have the automatic suggestions turned off. I use a keybind to activate it when I want it. > existing codebase in the form of a VSCode project / GitHub repo and uses that as a basis for suggestions What are you actually looking for? Copilot uses "all of github" via training, and your current project in the context.

frereubu 2y ago
> I have the automatic suggestions turned off. I use a keybind to activate it when I want it. I didn't realise you could do that. Might give it another go. > Copilot uses "all of github" via training, and your current project in the context. The current project context is the bit I didn't think it had. Thanks!