How to optimize the development process with AI
Today’s world of software development is changing rapidly, and new tools play a crucial role in this process. In the context of a fast-paced market and high user expectations, all developers work with the challenge of maintaining high product quality while ensuring that new features and updates are brought to market promptly.
Routine tasks and repetitive code patterns not only consume a significant amount of time, but also make projects difficult to maintain.
In my work, I often encountered writing repetitive code, which led to significant time consumption and reduced development efficiency. Such challenges require new approaches and solutions to optimize the process and maintain quality. Also, the use of modern tools and technologies not only simplifies the work, but also allows you to focus on more creative and strategic aspects of development and personal development.
Why you should use tools
Of course, there can be many reasons for using assistive tools. However, I will highlight a few, in my opinion, the most important and important:
- Development speed is often a critical factor in project success, especially in highly competitive environments. Companies are competing for the first place in the market, and a delay in the release can mean a loss of potential users and profit.
- Automation of routine tasks . Using tools for automation – documentation generation, code autocompletion and integration with other systems – significantly increases the overall efficiency of the team instead of wasting time on repetitive routine tasks.
- Code quality and code support are critical aspects of a mobile app’s long-term success. Tools to help document it are an integral part of the modern development process.
- Competitiveness . To stay competitive, developers must use the latest tools and technologies to improve their productivity. Customers expect quick solutions to problems, new functionality and stable operation of applications. The use of modern tools allows you to meet these expectations and maintain a high level of user satisfaction.
Five tools that will definitely be useful
DocC
DocC is a tool built into Xcode that helps you create clear and structured documentation, turning the comments you write in your Swift code into a detailed, navigable set of documentation.
Functionality:
- Automatic generation of documentation from comments.
- Visual documentation with interactive capabilities.
DocC creates visually appealing documentation with interactive elements — code examples, diagrams.
- Deep integration with Xcode.
DocC is fully integrated with Xcode, allowing developers to use all its features directly in the development environment. It is convenient and effective.
It is important to emphasize that DocC is primarily focused on Swift. However, there are situations when you may need more flexibility, and that’s where another powerful tool, Jazzy, comes to the rescue.
Jazzy
Jazzy is a powerful tool for creating high-quality documentation for Swift and Objective-C projects, improving code maintainability and collaboration.
Functionality:
- Automatic generation of documentation.
Jazzy automatically generates documentation from comments in your code, making it easy to maintain up-to-date and comprehensive documentation.
- Swift and Objective-C support.
This tool supports creating documentation for Swift and Objective-C projects, making it versatile for Apple development. Ensures documentation of all parts of your project, regardless of the programming language used.
- Easy installation and convenient interface.
Jazzy is easy to install and use, with comprehensive documentation to get you up and running quickly. Creates a clean and easy-to-navigate interface for documentation, making it accessible and user-friendly.
By the way, Apple announced Apple Intelligence on June 10 at WWDC 2024. It is an artificial intelligence platform developed by Apple with the support of OpenAl.
Also, Xcode 16 was released, where AI is integrated and you can already use the code autocompletion feature in Xcode. Additionally, Swift Assist, an interactive chat that can assist with development within the IDE, will be released within the next year.
And for those who are not in a hurry to update and want to take advantage of AI inside Xcode right now, I want to share the following tool.
Copilot for Xcode
Copilot for Xcode is a code completion tool that uses artificial intelligence to suggest code based on context. It can significantly speed up the writing process, reducing errors and increasing developer productivity. It is based on artificial intelligence and helps us with automatic code generation and code completion suggestions.
Functionality:
- Code Suggestions.
This feature provides real-time code suggestions as you type. It uses advanced artificial intelligence algorithms to predict the next segment of code. Which you might want to write, offering context-sensitive autocomplete options.
- The tool can learn from your code base, offering more relevant suggestions over time.
- Chat (powered by OpenAl ChatGPT).
This feature allows you to interact with an AI assistant through a chat interface, asking and getting answers about coding challenges, best practices, and more.
- Prompt to Code (powered by OpenAl ChatGPT).
Source code:
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/// Description: Custom error enum for handling errors in the app. enum CustomError : Error { case error ( message : String ) case networkError ( description : String ) case parsingError ( description : String ) case unknownError ( description : String ) } |
Request: // make extension for CustomError to provide localized description.
Result:
This feature allows developers to create code by providing natural language prompts and turns them into executable pieces of code.
Copilot for Xcode provides powerful features and significant benefits for improving productivity and code quality, but it also has some limitations and potential drawbacks to consider.
Warp Terminal
Warp Terminal is a modern terminal designed to increase the productivity of developers due to innovative features and capabilities.
Functionality:
- Al Command Suggestion.
Warp Terminal supports intelligent auto-completion of commands, allowing developers to quickly enter commands without having to type them in full. This saves time and reduces the number of errors when entering commands, as well as the need to remember their complex syntax.
- Command and Session History.
The terminal automatically saves a history of commands and sessions, making it easy to find and re-execute commands that have already been used. This is convenient for tracking actions and restoring previous sessions.
- Chat with Warp Al.
Chat helps to find answers to any questions related to computer programming in real time.
- Real-Time Collaboration.
Warp Terminal provides the ability to collaborate on terminal sessions in real time through workflows and notebooks functionality.
- Provides an elegant, visually appealing interface with tabs, splits, and a command palette for easy navigation and execution.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is an AI-powered tool that helps with writing code, automating routine tasks, and solving technical issues. It can be useful for quickly finding information, writing documentation, generating code examples, and even solving problems that arise during development.
Functionality:
- Code Generation & Task Automation.
ChatGPT can generate code based on descriptions and queries, allowing you to quickly get the code snippets you need for your projects. This saves time and effort on writing standard functions and classes.
Example 1. Source code:
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#import "UIViewController+Alert.h" @implementation UIViewController ( Alert ) - ( void )showAlertWithTitle:( NSString *)title message:( NSString *)message actionBlock:( nullable ActionBlock)actionBlock { UIAlertController *alertController = [ UIAlertController alertControllerWithTitle:title message: message preferredStyle: UIAlertControllerStyleAlert ]; UIAlertAction *okAction = [ UIAlertAction actionWithTitle: @"OK" style: UIAlertActionStyleDefault handler:^( UIAlertAction *action) { [alertController dismissViewControllerAnimated: YES completion: nil ]; f (actionBlock) { actionBlock(); } }]; [alertController addAction:okAction]; [ self presentViewController:alertController animated: YES completion: nil ]; } @end |
Request: Rewrite on Swift. Result:
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mport UIKit extension UIViewController { func showAlert ( title : String , message : String , actionBlock : (() -> Void ) ? = nil ) { let alertController = UIAlertController (title: title, message: message, preferredStyle: .alert) let okAction = UIAlertAction (title: "OK" , style: .default) { _ n alertController.dismiss(animated: true , completion: nil ) actionBlock ? () } alertController.addAction(okAction) self .present(alertController, animated: true , completion: nil ) } } |
Example 2 . Request: I have a label, I need to insert a blank text of one color and the other part of another color. Use Swift and UIKit. Only code needed where only part of the label.text work.
Result:
- Error Debugging.
ChatGPT helps you find and fix bugs in your code by offering solutions and recommendations. This helps to reduce the number of errors and improve the quality of the code.
- Documentation Assistance.
Assists in documentation by generating descriptions for functions, classes, and other code elements.
Continuation of example 2. Request: Create documentation according to the template: // MARK:
I have a label, I need to insert part of the text in one color and another part in another. Use Swift and UIKit. Only code needed where only part of the label.text work
Result:
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mport UIKit // MARK: - UILabel Extension for Colorful Text extension UILabel { /// Sets the text of the label with different colors for specified parts. /// - Parameters: /// - fullText: The complete text to be displayed in the label. /// - coloredText: The part of the text that should be colored differently. /// - coloredTextColor: The color for the `coloredText`. /// - defaultTextColor: The color for the rest of the text. func setColoredText ( fullText : String , coloredText : String , coloredTextColor : UIColor , defaultTextColor : UIColor ) { let attributedString = NSMutableAttributedString (string: fullText) let coloredTextRange = (fullText as NSString ).range(of: coloredText) // Set the color for the specified text attributedString.addAttribute(.foregroundColor, value: coloredTextColor, range: coloredTextRange) // Set the color for the rest of the text let defaultTextRange = NSRange (location: 0 , length: fullText.count) attributedString.addAttribute(.foregroundColor, value: defaultTextColor, range: defaultTextRange) self .attributedText = attributedString } } // Example usage let label = UILabel () label.setColoredText(fullText: "Hello, World!" , coloredText: "Hello" , coloredTextColor: .red, defaultTextColor: .blue) |
- Technical Consultation.
ChatGPT provides consultation on various technical issues. Helps learn new technologies and approaches by providing code examples, explanations, and guidance. This contributes to professional development and improvement of qualifications.
Advantages and disadvantages
I also suggest considering the advantages and disadvantages of using tools, since none of them is perfect and has its own nuances. It is important to evaluate all aspects in order to use their capabilities as efficiently and safely as possible.
Advantages:
- Increase productivity by writing code quickly with automatic suggestions and generation. Reduces development time.
- Using ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot can significantly speed up the process of writing code and routine tasks, allowing developers to build and release a product faster.
- Best practice suggestions and optimized solutions improve the overall quality of the code, help with finding and fixing bugs thanks to an interactive chat.
- Reducing the number of errors through automatic correction, as well as intelligent hints that help you avoid common bugs.
- Learning and development support: Interactive chat provides explanations and examples for various programming concepts, helping beginners learn quickly and helping developers master new technologies.
Disadvantages:
- Difficulty with accurate proposals in large and complex projects with many interdependent components.
- Dependence on the Internet and the cost of tools. Requires internet connection to receive offers and code generation. Using high-quality tools can be expensive, which is a limitation for some teams or projects.
- Potential security issues due to the use of external services for code generation. Some tools I use at work, others only on pet projects.
- Addiction and dependence on AI: Can affect the ability to independently solve problems and write code.
Instead of summaries
I want to end this text with examples of why experimentation is useful.
- Thanks to Copilot for Xcode and ChatGPT, I was able to optimize the code refactoring process and now I can write routine code faster.
- Using DocC and Jazzy helps to effectively and comprehensively describe the functionality, which in turn allows you to save time on creating and maintaining documentation.
- Warp Terminal helps you use the most frequent commands faster.
I recommend implementing innovative solutions to optimize the work process and reduce routine. Don’t be afraid of new technologies, because constantly looking for ways to improve processes is the key to success. But don’t forget about security.
