About This Constellation ShortList™
2024 was the year where AI was building on the initial transformation to all aspects of software that happened in 2023, one key focus area remains code generation and with that developers have been affected on how to write, review and organize code. With the progress in 2024, we have seen a major step forward towards ASO (see below), with more to come in 2025. Already at the end of 2024 more autonomous use of agent was being made available and is likely going to be the major them for 2025.
As a result “developer velocity” is up in 2024 and more will happen in 2025 with more tools and techniques utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to increase developer productivity. GenAI helps to go beyond the pure developer function on the software development life cycle (SDLC) with genAI understanding test protocols, software deficits and autonomously is able to fix and the put them even into a code repository for deployment.
These new, emerging capabilities are vital to making developers more productive and are evolving quickly—from early starts of code line completion over larger constructs on code review, to code asset discovery, all the way to complete code completion. As such, these innovations are a key step for enterprises to move to automated software operations (ASO), which includes ultimately the autonomous creation of software by software.
For more on the concept of ASO, see: Holger Mueller, “The Future of DevOps Is Automated Software Operations,” Constellation Research, June 21, 2019. https://www.constellationr.com/research/ future-devops-automated-software-operations
Threshold Criteria
Constellation considers the following criteria for these solutions:
- The ability to generate working code
- More than five AI/ML-powered code productivity capabilities
- A roadmap of how AI/ML will improve the developer experience
- Capabilities adjacen to coding – either ‘left’ to requirements or ‘right’ to QA, documentation and training etc.
- Autonomous cpabiltiies available / coming in 2025
- Tangible results and examples of how these features increase developer velocity
- Support of popular code languages
- Easy uptake and education on new features
- Over 75K developers using the new AI capabilities
- Over 150K developers have access to the AI capabilities
The Constellation ShortList™
Constellation evaluates more than 30 solutions categorized in this market. The Constellation ShortList is determined by client inquiries, partner conversations, customer references, vendor selection projects, market share and internal research.
- AMAZON Q DEVELOPER AND CODE GURU
- GITHUB COPILOT
- GOOGLE AI CODING CAPABILITIES
- JETBRAINS IDEs + JETBRAINS AI ASSISTANT
- MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO INTELLICODE
- TABNINE
Frequency of Evaluation
Each Constellation ShortList is updated at least once per year. Updates may occur after six months if deemed necessary.
Evaluation Services
Constellation clients can work with the analyst and the research team to conduct a more thorough discussion of this ShortList. Constellation can also provide guidance in vendor selection and contract negotiation.
