Generative AI for Teaching Software Development 101

Teaching Software Development 101 / Foundational Programming
Introducing Amazon CodeWhisperer
Live Coding Assistance
Automated Code Analysis and Translation
Identifying Vulnerabilities
Preparing Students for an AI-Driven Future
Discussion

Transcript

1. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   Generative AI for Teaching
   Software Development 101
   Stephen Howell
   Academic Developer Advocate
   Amazon Web Services
   

   View Slide

2. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   Agenda
   1. Teaching Software Development 101 / Foundational Programming
   2. Introducing Amazon CodeWhisperer
   3. Live Coding Assistance
   4. Automated Code Analysis and Translation
   5. Identifying Vulnerabilities
   6. Preparing Students for an AI-Driven Future
   7. Discussion
   2
   

   View Slide

3. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   Teaching Software Development 101
   3
   

   View Slide

4. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   Common Teaching & Learning Frustrations
   PEBKAC/PICNIC
   1. Syntax errors
   2. Multiple languages
   confusion
   3. Low interest –
   mandatory module
   4. Weak problem
   solving skills
   Pitfalls
   1. Logical Errors
   2. Environment
   3. Running before
   walking
   4. SDev 2/3/4… will
   cover it
   5. “A different
   language/IDE/OS
   will make this
   easier to teach”
   Paradigms
   1. Imperative Vs
   Declarative?
   2. Procedural,
   Functional, or
   Object-oriented?
   3. Not differentiating
   4. Trying to fit too
   much into a
   semester/term
   5. Poor alignment on
   independent
   modules
   Practice
   1. Never seeing tutor
   live-code (slideitis)
   2. Underestimation of
   hours needed on
   the keyboard
   3. Always more
   practice questions
   wanted
   4
   

   View Slide

5. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   Introducing Amazon CodeWhisperer
   5
   

   View Slide

6. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   Amazon CodeWhisperer
   AI coding companion
   • trained on billions
   of lines of code
   • can generate code
   suggestions ranging
   from snippets to
   full functions
   • Bypass time-
   consuming coding
   tasks
   • accelerate building
   with unfamiliar APIs
   Code with confidence
   • flag or filter code
   suggestions that
   resemble open-
   source training
   data.
   • Get the associated
   open-source
   project’s repository
   URL and license
   • easily review them
   and add attribution.
   Use your tools
   • 15 programming
   languages,
   including Python,
   Java, C#, JavaScript
   • IDEs: VS Code,
   IntelliJ IDEA, AWS
   Cloud9, AWS
   Lambda console,
   JupyterLab and
   Amazon SageMaker
   Studio
   Individual Tier
   6
   • Free for individual use
   • Unlimited code
   suggestions
   • Reference tracking
   • 50 security scans (per
   user, per month)
   

   View Slide

7. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   Live Coding Assistance
   7
   

   View Slide

8. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   Getting Started (examples in Python)
   8
   Lines 1, 5, 10, 14 are human
   

   View Slide

9. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
   © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
   Problem Solving Steps
   9
   

   View Slide

10. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    General Knowledge Examples
    10
    

    View Slide

11. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    Paradigm Examples
    11
    

    View Slide

12. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    Automated Code Analysis and Translation
    12
    

    View Slide

13. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    Switching Languages / Stack / Versions
    13
    

    View Slide

14. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    Identifying Vulnerabilities
    14
    

    View Slide

15. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    Detecting Security Errors
    • Outrageous (fake) keys on
    lines 6 and 7!
    • CWE-798 - Hardcoded credentials: Access
    credentials, such as passwords and access keys,
    should not be hardcoded in source code. Hardcoding
    credentials may cause leaks even after removing
    them. This is because version control systems might
    retain older versions of the code. Credentials should
    be stored securely and obtained from the runtime
    environment.
    15
    

    View Slide

16. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    Preparing Students for an AI-Driven Future
    16
    

    View Slide

17. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    AWS Academy
    https://aws.amazon.com/training/awsacademy/faq/
    AWS Academy provides higher education institutions with a free,
    ready-to-teach cloud computing curriculum that prepares students
    to pursue industry-recognized credentials and in-demand jobs. Our
    curriculum helps educators stay at the forefront of AWS Cloud
    innovation so that they can equip students with the skills they need
    to get hired in one of the fastest-growing industries.
    17
    

    View Slide

18. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    AWS Cloud Clubs https://s12d.com/students
    18
    

    View Slide

19. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    Thank you!
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    Stephen Howell
    srhowell@amazon.com
    twitter.com/howell_cloud
    instagram.com/howell_cloud/
    

    View Slide

20. GENERATIVE AI FOR TEACHING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT 101
    © 2023, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
    About the Speaker
    Stephen Howell is a technologist and educator with over 25 years
    of experience in software engineering, lecturing, program
    management, and education.
    As a software engineer, he worked on diverse projects involving
    technologies from finance to IoT systems. For over a decade, he
    was a computing lecturer at universities including Dublin City
    University and Institute of Technology Tallaght (now
    Technological University Dublin).
    He taught modules covering algorithms, data structures, object-
    oriented programming, software engineering, cloud computing,
    computer graphics, visual design, and interactive media.
    Currently at Amazon Web Services, Stephen is an Academic
    Developer Advocate supporting students and faculty in building
    cloud and AI skills.
    20
    

    View Slide