• Google has announced that it is rolling out a free version of its Gemini Code Assist for local developers.
• The tool is powered by Gemini 2.0 and supports all programming languages in the public domain.
• Recent research suggests that over 75 percent of developers now integrate AI into their daily workflows.

Google has made an announcement that will be of particular importance to South African developers or those with a keen interest in coding. Here the tech giant has made a free version of its Gemini Code Assist available locally.

As the name suggests, this tool is powered by the company generative AI platform and in particular Gemini 2.0. It also supports all programming languages in the public domain, and according to Google, it is optimised for coding.

Citing recent research from DORA, Google says that that over 75 percent of developers now integrate AI into their daily workflows. Within its own environment for example, over 25 percent of new code is AI-generated.

“Given the projected global developer base expansion to 57.8 million by 2028, democratising AI access is both timely and crucial. Providing these tools, regardless of financial capacity, equips the next generation of developers with the essential digital capabilities required for future innovation,” highlighted Google in release to Hypertext.

“The Gemini 2.0 model was fine-tuned for developers by analysing and validating a large number of real-world coding use cases. As a result, the quality of AI-generated recommendations in Gemini Code Assist is better than ever before and ready to address the myriad of daily challenges developers face,” it added.

Along with being freely accessible in SA for developers, Google also pointed out that Gemini Code Assist offers a usage limit of up to 90 times per month, as well as a token context window of up to 128 000 input token support in chat. “This large context window lets developers use large files and ground Gemini Code Assist with a broader understanding of their local codebases,” Google pointed out.

South African developers can also use natural language in a variety of languages in Gemini Code Assist to generate, explain and improve code.

“For example, a freelance website developer could quickly get code with a prompt like, ‘Build me a simple HTML form with fields for name, email, and message, and then add a ‘submit’ button.’ Or someone just looking to automate more routine tasks can ask Gemini to ‘Write a script that sends a daily email with the latest weather forecast,’ or ‘Explain what this Python code snippet does and find any errors.’,” it illustrated.

“Whether a student building an interactive data visualization using JavaScript, or a freelance developer testing ideas for an application or game, you can use Gemini Code Assist to help you get your project done faster, with more expertise, at no cost,” it concluded.

Those interested in leveraging the freely accessible solution only need to sign up via a personal Gmail account, with no credit card needed. South African developers can get started by installing Gemini Code Assist in Visual Studio Code, GitHub, or JetBrains IDEs.

[Image – Photo by Ilya Pavlov on Unsplash]