What is the simplest and most direct form of AI-assisted programming? Why do different AI editors implement the Tab feature, yet the experience varies so much? What capabilities does Cursor's Tab feature offer?
Cursor offers three main features for AI-assisted programming:
- Tab feature
- Prompt box (Cmd + K)
- Chat function (Cmd + L)
In this tutorial, we'll focus on the Tab feature, which best demonstrates Cursor's magic to users.
Why do different AI editors implement the Tab feature, yet the experience varies so much? What capabilities does Cursor's Tab feature offer?
What is the Tab Feature?
What is the simplest and most direct form of AI-assisted programming? It's actually having the AI automatically generate code completion suggestions based on the current code context, allowing users to directly complete code modifications and additions with just a Tab key.
I can't think of a simpler or more direct way of assisted programming. Users don't need to describe any requirements; the AI directly provides suggestions - this is the most natural and direct assistance method.
Cursor's Tab feature is exactly such a programming assistant tool. Compared to GitHub Copilot and MarsCode, Cursor's greatest advantage lies in its code editing capabilities - not only can it insert code, but it can also modify existing code, which Cursor emphasizes repeatedly in its official documentation:
You can also see a more detailed comparison in the previous article "Why Leave GitHub Copilot Behind?"
Future Development of Tab Feature
From the user experience perspective, there's room for improvement in the context referencing of the Tab feature. For example, when you modify code from another file and return to the current file, the Tab feature's suggestions may have a higher error rate.
According to Cursor's blog post "Next Action Prediction," the Tab feature will soon support cross-file code generation suggestions, going beyond just suggestions based on the current file. This means Cursor will better understand the project context and provide more accurate and useful code suggestions.
Conclusion
In summary, Cursor's Tab feature is a powerful and intuitive AI-assisted programming tool. By now, you should have a good understanding of it through this tutorial.
But Cursor's power isn't as simple as it seems. It took deep research to discover that Cursor's team has done a lot of optimization and improvement work.
Cursor's Tab feature uses a self-researched model, and in Cursor's blog, it mentions various methods for training the model and optimization details. Interested readers can check it out.