AI and Software Performance Optimization

By Harold Rubino

2 min read

12/10/2022

Inefficient code can affect software performance and usability. Outdated code bases or suboptimal algorithms can slow down software, especially as the amount of data it handles grows. To overcome this problem, developers resort to refactoring (optimizing and cleaning) the code base. Today, artificial intelligence for code improvement can radically simplify or even automate refactoring on several fronts:

Code analysis. AI can automatically analyze code, identify problems, and make optimization recommendations. This includes detecting “dead code”, complex sections for simplification and potential errors.
Performance evaluation. Some tools can analyze code performance and suggest improvements to increase application efficiency and speed.
Automatic refactoring. Some AI-based tools can automatically perform refactoring operations such as renaming variables, splitting large methods into smaller ones, removing code duplication, etc. This reduces the time required to perform routine tasks.
Testing and verification. AI can automatically generate test scenarios to verify the correctness of code after refactoring, which helps avoid new bugs.
Hints and suggestions. AI can provide hints and recommendations to help developers write cleaner and more efficient code from the start.

Several AI-based tools are available for developers to use for code refactoring:

Codota (Tabnine). Combines analytics, natural language processing, and machine learning techniques to examine code and generate generation/refactoring suggestions;
Sourcery. An automatic code review tool that can be effectively used for refactoring, bug finding, etc;
DeepCode. This semantic code analysis tool also greatly speeds up debugging and refactoring;
IntelliSense. It helps programmers in Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code, Visual FoxPro and other editors. Offers auto-completion and refactoring to improve code structure.

It is important to note that AI refactoring tools continue to evolve. Therefore, new tools and features that improve the efficiency of this process appear regularly.