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For Java intellicode suggests a lot of poor choices #1754
Description
Issue Type: Bug
In java, when typing code, intellicode should be smart enough to know what context I am in, like coding a class and it should only provide what the most likely keyword I am going to type next.
- Create a class person with two private string fields
- Type "p", note what is suggested (should be private, public).
- After private, type "S", note what is suggested, in fact typing "Str" still does not yield "String" as a top choice.
This is no where close to improving productivity like with intellij, would love to see this fixed.
I'm sure this is also a problem with other languages like TypeScript, JS, GoLang.
After pressing "p"
After pressing "S"
After pressing "Str"
System Info
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| CPUs | AMD Ryzen 7 2700X Eight-Core Processor (16 x 3967) |
| GPU Status | 2d_canvas: enabled flash_3d: enabled flash_stage3d: enabled flash_stage3d_baseline: enabled gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on oop_rasterization: disabled_off protected_video_decode: unavailable_off rasterization: disabled_software skia_renderer: disabled_off_ok video_decode: unavailable_off viz_display_compositor: enabled_on viz_hit_test_surface_layer: disabled_off_ok webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled |
| Load (avg) | 0, 1, 1 |
| Memory (System) | 31.29GB (9.76GB free) |
| Process Argv | . --no-sandbox |
| Screen Reader | no |
| VM | 0% |
Extensions (54)
| Extension | Author (truncated) | Version |
|---|---|---|
| terraform | 4op | 0.2.1 |
| vscode-base64 | ada | 0.1.0 |
| vscode-tomcat | ada | 0.11.3 |
| markdown-toc | Ala | 1.5.6 |
| Bookmarks | ale | 11.1.0 |
| ng-template | Ang | 0.1100.2 |
| vscode-browser-preview | auc | 0.6.7 |
| npm-intellisense | chr | 1.3.1 |
| path-intellisense | chr | 2.3.0 |
| bracket-pair-colorizer | Coe | 1.0.61 |
| vscode-markdownlint | Dav | 0.38.0 |
| vscode-eslint | dba | 2.1.8 |
| java-decompiler | dgi | 0.0.2 |
| EditorConfig | Edi | 0.15.1 |
| prettier-vscode | esb | 5.5.0 |
| markdown-preview-bitbucket | hbr | 1.0.0 |
| java-properties | ith | 0.0.2 |
| vscode-peacock | joh | 3.8.0 |
| solidity | Jua | 0.0.76 |
| sort-typescript-imports | mic | 1.4.1 |
| vscode-docker | ms- | 1.1.0 |
| python | ms- | 2020.5.86806 |
| cpptools | ms- | 0.28.3 |
| vscode-typescript-tslint-plugin | ms- | 1.3.2 |
| debugger-for-chrome | msj | 4.12.8 |
| angular2-inline | nat | 0.0.17 |
| vetur | oct | 0.24.0 |
| vscode-boot-dev-pack | Piv | 0.0.8 |
| vscode-concourse | Piv | 1.24.0 |
| vscode-manifest-yaml | Piv | 1.24.0 |
| vscode-spring-boot | Piv | 1.24.0 |
| platformio-ide | pla | 1.10.0 |
| java-ide-pack | pve | 1.2.1 |
| java | red | 0.59.1 |
| vscode-yaml | red | 0.13.0 |
| markdown-preview-enhanced | shd | 0.5.15 |
| vscode-checkstyle | she | 1.3.3 |
| java-generate-setters-getters | soh | 5.3.0 |
| sonarlint-vscode | Son | 1.19.0 |
| language-stylus | sys | 1.11.0 |
| find-then-jump | tra | 2.0.4 |
| sort-lines | Tyr | 1.9.0 |
| vscodeintellicode | Vis | 1.2.10 |
| vscode-java-debug | vsc | 0.27.1 |
| vscode-java-dependency | vsc | 0.9.0 |
| vscode-java-pack | vsc | 0.12.1 |
| vscode-java-test | vsc | 0.22.3 |
| vscode-maven | vsc | 0.27.0 |
| vscode-spring-boot-dashboard | vsc | 0.1.10 |
| vscode-spring-initializr | vsc | 0.6.1 |
| better-align | wwm | 1.1.6 |
| vscode-java-saber | You | 0.1.1 |
| markdown-pdf | yza | 1.4.4 |
| vscode-aspell | zap | 0.1.4 |
(8 theme extensions excluded)
Activity
testforstephen commentedon Jan 4, 2021
@Eskibear Could you take a look whether this can be achieved by IntelliCode extension?
Eskibear commentedon Jan 4, 2021
No, it's not related to IntelliCode. The behavior is the same when IntelliCode is not installed.
p[cursor]: classes staring with "p" are listed, because it's allowed that you don't have a public/private modifier before a member varible.Str[cursor]: "String" is not on top of the list, because it's in alphabetical order.testforstephen commentedon Jan 4, 2021
I don't mean that this is a bug in IntelliCode, I mean whether IntelliCode could optimize the recommendation order for these completion choices.
Eskibear commentedon Jan 4, 2021
Theoretically that can be done by machine learninig approaches or hardcoded rules. But no, currently IntelliCode only re-ranks methods of a certain type. Modifiers, types, keywords are not included.
0dinD commentedon Jan 5, 2021
My take on the issue in the first screenshot is that it's a non-issue if you follow the widely accepted convention of using UpperCamelCase for class names. If the class were to be named
Person, the access modifiers are the top results, and you have to type a capitalPin order to be suggested thePersonclass over the access modifiers.But I do agree that it would be nice if the IntelliCode extension could rank types based on their usage. So if anything I think you should focus on ranking types, not modifiers and keywords @Eskibear.
Eskibear commentedon Sep 17, 2026
suggest to close, as intellicode itself is already deprecated.
datho7561 commentedon Sep 18, 2026
I agree about closing this.
I think Fred/Roland were thinking about doing something along the line of reordering the type completions to put the most used ones on top, but it would be very expensive to calculate that.
My understanding about the route involving reordering the results using AI was that any locally running model would either be too weak to yield good results or strong enough but so slow on most computers that it wouldn't be worth it.
FaiqNoman69 commentedon Sep 18, 2026
Makes sense. If IntelliCode already deprioritizes keywords/modifiers appropriately, then this specific concern is resolved and closing is fine.
That said, I'd still like to see usage-based ranking applied to types specifically (e.g. classes/interfaces surfaced higher based on how often they're referenced in the project). If that's better tracked as its own feature request rather than reopening this one, happy to file it separately.