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arXiv · 2209.01766

Exploring the Verifiability of Code Generated by GitHub Copilot

Dakota Wong·Austin Kothig·Patrick Lam
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Abstract

GitHub's Copilot generates code quickly. We investigate whether it generates good code. Our approach is to identify a set of problems, ask Copilot to generate solutions, and attempt to formally verify these solutions with Dafny. Our formal verification is with respect to hand-crafted specifications. We have carried out this process on 6 problems and succeeded in formally verifying 4 of the created solutions. We found evidence which corroborates the current consensus in the literature: Copilot is a powerful tool; however, it should not be "flying the plane" by itself.

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Dakota Wong, Austin Kothig, Patrick Lam. 2022-09-05. Exploring the Verifiability of Code Generated by GitHub Copilot. https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.01766

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