Amazon Q Developer: an AI programming assistant that generates code suggestions in real time

Amazon Q Developer is an AI-powered code generation tool designed to improve developers' efficiency in writing code. It analyzes code context and comments to provide real-time code suggestions ranging from single lines of code, to blocks of code, to complete functions, and supports multiple programming languages. It is free for individual developers to use with just an AWS Builder ID and no AWS account is required. It also scans code, identifies security issues, and provides recommendations for fixing them. amazon Q Developer is optimized for rapid development of cloud applications with AWS service API calls, and improves code quality to help developers complete projects efficiently.

Function List

• Real-time code suggestions: automatically generate single lines of code, blocks of code, or complete functions based on input code or comments.
• Security Scanning: Detects security issues in code, such as credential leaks, and provides recommendations for fixing them.
• Multi-language support: support for Python, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, C#, Go, Rust, PHP, Ruby, Kotlin, C, C++, SQL, Scala and other languages.
• AWS API Optimization: Provides precise API call recommendations for AWS services such as S3, Lambda, DynamoDB.
• Code Completion: Automatically complete the if, for, while, try and other code structures to improve writing speed.
• Reference tracking: Identifies the open source source of the proposed code, providing the project URL and license information.
• IDE Integration: Supports development environments such as Visual Studio Code, JetBrains, AWS Cloud9, AWS Lambda Console, and more.

Using Help

Installation and Setup

To use Amazon Q Developer, developers need to complete the following simple setup process:

1. Register for an AWS Builder ID

• interviews Amazon Q Developer Official WebsiteThe
• Click the "Get Started" button to enter the registration page.
• Sign up for an AWS Builder ID using your personal email address, no AWS account is required.
• Once you receive the verification email, confirm your email address to complete your registration.

2. Installing AWS Toolkit in the IDE

Amazon Q Developer runs in the IDE through the AWS Toolkit plugin. The following are examples of Visual Studio Code and JetBrains:

Visual Studio Code::

• Open VS Code and go to the extended Marketplace.
• look for sth. AWS Toolkit and installed.
• When the installation is complete, open the AWS Toolkit sidebar.
• Click "Connect to AWS", select "AWS Builder ID" to login, and enter your email and password.
• Once authorized, Amazon Q Developer is ready to be enabled in VS Code.

JetBrains (e.g. IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm)::

• Open the JetBrains IDE and go to the Plugin Marketplace.
• look for sth. AWS Toolkit and installed.
• After restarting the IDE, open the AWS Toolkit configuration.
• Sign in with your AWS Builder ID to complete authorization.
• Amazon Q Developer will be automatically enabled to support code suggestions and security scans.

AWS Cloud9 or Lambda::

• Amazon Q Developer is built-in in AWS Cloud9 or Lambda Console.
• After logging into your AWS account, go to the Cloud9 or Lambda console and click "Enable Amazon Q Developer".

3. Trigger Code Suggestion

• autosuggestion: Enter code or comments in the IDE and Amazon Q Developer displays suggestions in real time. Suggestions are displayed in gray text, press Tab key to accept, and press the left and right arrows to toggle through multiple suggestions.
• manual trigger: On MacOS, press Option + COn Windows, press Alt + C, manual trigger suggestions.
• Annotation Driver: Enter natural language annotations (e.g. # 创建一个 S3 存储桶), the tool generates the appropriate code.

4. Run a security scan

• In the IDE, open the AWS Toolkit panel.
• Select "Run Security Scan" and Amazon Q Developer will scan the current file or project.
• The scan results highlight issues, such as unencrypted credentials, and provide suggestions for fixing them.
• Click on the suggested fix code to directly replace the problem code.

5. reference track

• Amazon Q Developer displays the source URL and license when the suggested code may be from an open source project.
• Developers can click on the link to view the open source project to ensure compliant use.

Main Functions

Real-time code suggestions

The core feature of Amazon Q Developer is the generation of code suggestions in real time. Developers enter code or comments in the IDE and the tool generates suggestions based on the context. For example:

• importation # 创建一个 DynamoDB 表The tool generates a file containing the boto3 The complete function code for the library.
• importation if (condition) {The tool automatically completes the entire if statement block.
  Suggestions are dynamically adapted to the context of the file (e.g., a variable or function) to ensure that the code meets the needs of the project.

security scan

Amazon Q Developer integrates with Amazon CodeGuru's security scanning feature as follows:

• Select the file or project in the IDE and click "Run Security Scan".
• Once the scan is complete, the tool lists potential issues such as hard-coded AWS credentials or log injection vulnerabilities.
• Each issue is accompanied by a detailed description and a suggested fix, and developers can apply the suggested code directly.
  This feature is suitable for enterprise projects that require high security.

AWS API Optimization

Amazon Q Developer provides optimization recommendations for AWS service APIs. For example:

• importation s3 = boto3.client('s3')The tool will suggest the correct S3 action code, such as s3.create_bucket(Bucket='my-bucket')The
• importation # 上传文件到 S3The tool generates a complete upload function with error handling.
  This simplifies the use of AWS services for both novice and experienced developers.

Multi-language support

Amazon Q Developer supports multiple languages, so developers can use it across projects without switching tools. For example:

• In the Python project, type # 排序列表The tool will suggest sorted(list) or a custom sort function.
• In the Java project, type public void, the tool generates the full function signature and implementation.

caveat

• Free vs. paid versionsIndividual: Individual developers use the free Individual version, which is full-featured but has usage limits. Business users can choose the Professional version, which supports SSO, IAM integration and higher limits for security scanning.
• network requirement: Amazon Q Developer requires an Internet connection to generate recommendations and run scans.
• Privacy: AWS does not use user code for model training; the code data is only used to generate recommendations.

application scenario

1. Rapid development of AWS applications
   Developers need to quickly build applications that use AWS services, such as S3 storage buckets or Lambda functions. Amazon Q Developer provides suggestions for optimized API calls and reduces time spent reviewing documentation.
2. Writing Unit Tests
   Developers need to write unit tests for their projects. Amazon Q Developer generates test code based on function signatures, covering common scenarios.
3. Fixing security holes
   Enterprise developers need to ensure that their code is secure.Amazon Q Developer's security scanning feature identifies vulnerabilities and provides recommendations for fixing them, suitable for the financial or healthcare industries.
4. Learning a new language or framework
   When new developers are learning a new language or AWS SDK, Amazon Q Developer provides real-time advice to help get started quickly.
5. Improve team efficiency
   Amazon Q Developer's code completions and suggestions accelerate the development process and reduce duplication of effort when development teams need to complete complex projects in a short period of time.

QA

1. What IDEs are supported by Amazon Q Developer?
   Support for Visual Studio Code, JetBrains (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, etc.), AWS Cloud9, 31. AWS Lambda Console, SageMaker Studio, and more.
2. Need an AWS account?
   Individual developers only need an AWS Builder ID and do not require an AWS account. Enterprise users may need an AWS account to use the Professional version.
3. How do I trigger a code suggestion?
   Auto-trigger: Suggestions are automatically displayed when entering code or comments. Manual trigger: MacOS uses Option + CWindows uses Alt + CThe
4. Is the security scan free?
   The Individual version includes free security scanning, while the Professional version offers higher scanning limits.
5. Does it support Chinese comments?
   Yes, Amazon Q Developer supports natural language comments such as Chinese, and can generate code based on the comments.