GitHub has long been the place where programmers and developers collaborate on projects in gits.
The thing is, sifting through the many lines of codes can be daunting, and searching for specific code on GitHub can be a pain. This is why GitHub has reworked its code search feature, after working on it for years. And this time, finally, it's available for everyone to use.
The changes include substantial new functionality that is significantly more aware of context.
The company said that its improved code search is "about twice as fast" as the old code search, and that it "understands code, putting the most relevant results first."
That's on top of redesigned search and code view interfaces, which offer suggestions and completions, and categorizes them in an improved formated results.
Using the feature, users can also see references in a side panel.
What's more, there is also support for substring queries, regular expressions, and symbol search.
In a blog post, GitHub said that:
"That’s why, in the past two years, we’ve laid out our plans to improve code search and shown off the technology that enabled us to do so. And today, our new code search and code view are generally available to all users on GitHub.com."
According to Mario Rodriguez, vice president of product for GitHub, his team decided to create a search engine to improve developer productivity.
With more than 200 million repositories at GitHub, the code search feature should allow the many repositories to be more easily explored, he noted.
What's more, the redesigned code view tool is equipped with an integrated search, browsing and code navigation.
So indeed, this code search 'search engine' should come useful for the world's largest code repository.
The updated search engine also makes it much more easier to search for specific vulnerabilities that might exist in a codebase, added Rodriguez.
GitHub code search puts the world’s code at your fingertips. Let’s take a look at what you can do with it. https://t.co/SqbGBJdpa3
— GitHub (@github) May 8, 2023
This addition is an effort by Microsoft that owns GitHub, to implement more AI into its products.
Microsoft wants GitHub to use its GitHub Copilot that employ generative AI to make developers more productive, he said.
In other words, the change is part of Microsoft's strategy to being more intelligence into its platforms.
"Our goal with the new code search and code view is to enable developers to quickly find critical information scattered across their codebase, put that information into context, and ultimately make them more productive," GitHub said,
"And this launch is just the beginning—GitHub is infusing intelligence into every aspect of software development."
Read: Microsoft And GitHub Introduce AI To Help Software Developers Code