Section 1: Introduction to GitHub Copilot
Minutes 0 to 15. Four slides. No tool is used in this section, which is deliberate: the first live prompt should land on prepared context rather than on an empty editor.
- French counterpart: /github-copilot-fundamentals/fr/sections/section-1-introduction.html
Objectives served
- O1. Understand the core capabilities of GitHub Copilot
- O2. Differentiate between Copilot Chat, Code Completions, and Agent Mode
- O5. Evaluate and review AI-generated outputs responsibly
Run of show
| Slide | Minutes | Activity |
|---|---|---|
| S01. GitHub Copilot Fundamentals | 0 to 3 | Title, duration, section split, and the independence notice read aloud |
| S02. What Copilot Actually Does | 3 to 7 | Name the four things it does, and name where accountability stays |
| S03. Chat, Completions, and Agent Mode | 7 to 11 | Name one job each surface is best at |
| S04. Six Misconceptions | 11 to 15 | Surface the two expectations that cause real defects |
What is covered
Copilot suggests code inline while you type, answers questions about code you did not write, drafts tests and documentation and change summaries, and plans and applies edits across several files that you review before keeping. It drafts. You decide what is kept.
The three surfaces divide as follows.
- Completions are inline and fastest, and are best for the next line or the next assertion.
- Chat is a question and an answer, and is best for explanation and for proposals.
- Agent Mode produces a plan, then edits across several files, then a review you perform.
A wider surface is not a better surface. It is a larger blast radius, so it carries a heavier review duty.
The six misconceptions
- It is just autocomplete.
- It replaces developers.
- Generated code is always correct.
- It is only useful for writing code.
- You need to be an AI expert to benefit.
- It removes the need to understand your own code.
Item three is the one that causes real defects, and the review duty taught in section 5 exists because of it. Items five and six are the first content dropped from this section under time pressure, and that is recorded in the cut order.
Safety note
The practice fixture used for every later demonstration is synthetic classroom material authored for this workshop. It validates a request for a short piece of written content and nothing else. Nothing shown today is customer material or models a regulated or safety-critical system. Say this aloud in section 1, before any screen is photographed.
Next
Continue to Section 2.