Transforming Software Development with Generative AI: How CodeVista Is The Right Companion

Q: What is CodeVista and how can it help us deal with developer and skills shortages?

CodeVista is FPT Software’s generative AI coding platform that automates code generation and assists across the development lifecycle. It augments your teams by speeding up coding, documentation, and maintenance tasks, helping you do more with fewer specialized developers and reducing time-to-market.

Facing an intensifying shortage of skilled developers, generative AI is reshaping the software development lifecycle by automating code generation, documentation, legacy modernization, natural language programming, and testing. Built by FPT, CodeVista operationalizes these capabilities as a secure, enterprise-grade coding companion embedded in IDEs and project workflows, indexing entire codebases to deliver contextual assistance, governance-ready AI usage monitoring, and significantly faster delivery with lower maintenance overhead. By strategically adopting GenAI platforms like CodeVista, enterprises can translate software-led innovation into durable competitive advantage, supercharging digital transformation and time-to-market across their product portfolio.

Written by

FPT Software

Published on

October 24, 2024

Modern applications are central to today's digital landscape, yet businesses are facing a significant shortage of developers and critical software engineering skills. In response to this gap, FPT has developed CodeVista, an AI-powered tool for automated code generation. CodeVista equips developers with advanced capabilities that streamline coding workflows by offering real-time knowledge, comprehensive documentation, and contextual recommendations to improve both efficiency and accuracy.

At the same time, demand for highly skilled software developers continues to grow. Research indicates that almost 200,000 developer jobs will need to be filled each year through the end of the decade. In this context, Generative AI (GenAI) emerges as a powerful way to accelerate the software development lifecycle, driving higher productivity and reducing the time required for activities such as creating test cases.

GenAI Use Cases in Software Development

As software-led innovation becomes crucial for companies to differentiate themselves from competitors, the rapid adoption of generative AI across the software development lifecycle can significantly enhance enterprises' transformation potential. Below are key GenAI use cases that are reshaping how software is built and maintained:

Code Generation and Documentation

Generative AI can automate code documentation by generating comprehensive explanations from code comments and structure, making it easier to maintain and understand complex codebases. It can also create code snippets or entire functions based on natural language inputs, allowing developers to translate their ideas into executable code more efficiently.

According to McKinsey, generative AI-based tools significantly enhance the speed of common developer tasks. Specifically, documenting code functionality and writing new code can be completed in 50% less time.

Legacy App Modernization

Application modernization is a critical priority for organizational success, with 78% of organizations using or planning to use AI to support their application modernization efforts. In this context, GenAI tools can streamline the refactoring of legacy applications by applying advanced algorithms to analyze existing codebases.

These tools can identify inefficiencies, suggest improvements, and automatically generate updated code that adheres to modern programming standards. This level of automation reduces the manual effort required for refactoring, allowing development teams to focus on higher-value tasks. According to IDC, by 2027 enterprises can automate and execute up to 75% of code conversion and development tasks.

Natural Language Programming

GenAI can interpret and translate human language commands into executable code, enabling developers and even non-technical business users to describe functionalities and requirements in plain language. This capability makes application development more accessible across the organization.

IDC predicts that generative AI will enable developers to create 55% of net-new applications using natural language by 2028. This increased accessibility can help alleviate the shortage of skilled developers by empowering more individuals to participate in the development process.

Automated Testing

GenAI can generate comprehensive test cases based on application specifications, historical data, and user behavior patterns. This automation reduces reliance on manual testing, which is often time-consuming and prone to human error.

By 2028, GenAI-based tools are expected to autonomously write up to 80% of software tests, utilizing machine learning and data analysis to determine what needs testing and how to execute those tests effectively. With enhanced test coverage and improved software usability, organizations can deliver higher-quality products faster and reduce time to market.

CodeVista: The New Partner for Software Developers

With recent advancements in GenAI for software development, FPT has developed CodeVista, an AI-powered tool for automated code generation. It delivers a conversational coding experience directly within integrated development environments (IDEs), while addressing common security and functionality concerns associated with third-party AI coding tools.

CodeVista also enables business leaders and technology managers to monitor AI usage in software development and gain clearer visibility into how their teams interact with the technology.

Within FPT, CodeVista is widely used as an internal tool for software development. Leveraging advanced AI capabilities from OpenAI's GPT and Google's Gemini models, CodeVista provides private and secure access by hosting and fine-tuning powerful open-source AI models on its own servers. It allows users to index their codebase for context-rich assistance and semantic code search. In addition, by integrating Docify, FPT's AI-assisted code documentation tool, the company can combine code generation, documentation, and explanations within a single product.

How CodeVista Delivers Value to Enterprises

Powered by GenAI, CodeVista equips developers with advanced tools that streamline the coding process. The platform offers real-time knowledge, comprehensive documentation, and contextual recommendations, helping teams improve coding efficiency and maintain higher accuracy throughout the development lifecycle.

Beyond in-context and codebase-level assistance, CodeVista enhances developer productivity across a broad range of programming scenarios at the project level. Operating as a collaborative assistant, it works within the scope of the entire software project, integrating with project management, communication, and documentation tools. This provides a unified view of project status and enables development teams to coordinate more effectively. With its ability to comprehend large codebases, CodeVista supports rapid code understanding, reverse engineering, and identification of components suitable for migration.

As developers typically spend 35% of their time managing code, including code maintenance (19%) and testing (12%), CodeVista can expedite development time by 48%. This level of automation enables teams to bring products to market faster. By prioritizing security, the platform also helps alleviate enterprise concerns about third-party tools and supports a more secure software development environment.

Supercharge Your Digital Business with Generative AI

As organizations compete in an increasingly dynamic digital landscape, generative AI is emerging as a transformative force, reshaping how businesses operate and deliver value. When adopted strategically across the entire software development lifecycle, GenAI can significantly amplify innovation capacity, improve operational efficiency, and strengthen overall business outcomes.

To explore how enterprises can systematically apply GenAI to optimize software development, accelerate innovation, and succeed in today's digital-first economy, download the latest whitepaper, Leveraging GenAI to Supercharge Your Digital Business.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can generative AI improve software development, especially for coding and documentation?

Generative AI accelerates software delivery by generating code from natural language, automating documentation, modernizing legacy apps, and creating test cases. It reduces time spent on routine coding and documentation, improves code understanding, and supports modernization and testing to speed up enterprise transformation.

What is CodeVista and how can it help us deal with developer and skills shortages?

CodeVista is FPT’s generative AI coding platform that automates code generation and assists across the development lifecycle. It augments your teams by speeding up coding, documentation, and maintenance tasks, helping you do more with fewer specialized developers and reducing time-to-market.

How does CodeVista act as a secure conversational coding partner inside our IDEs?

CodeVista embeds a conversational AI assistant directly in your IDE, tuned for enterprise use. It runs on FPT-controlled infrastructure, supports private model hosting and fine-tuning, and lets leaders monitor AI usage, reducing data leakage, IP exposure, and functionality risks seen with public AI coding tools.

In what ways does CodeVista boost coding efficiency, accuracy, and developer productivity?

CodeVista provides real-time knowledge, contextual code suggestions, and integrated documentation at file, codebase, and project level. It helps developers quickly grasp large systems, reverse engineer components, and automate maintenance and testing tasks, reducing coding time by up to nearly half and improving code quality.

How can generative AI like CodeVista supercharge our digital business and competitiveness?

Strategically using genAI across the software lifecycle—ideation, coding, modernization, testing, and documentation—can shorten release cycles, increase innovation capacity, and improve quality. Tools like CodeVista let enterprises scale software delivery, modernize faster, and respond more quickly to market demands.