Facing challenges with a multi-million-line C++ codebase, Pure Storage leveraged Augment to enhance developer efficiency, improve onboarding, and streamline debugging, resulting in significant productivity gains across teams.

The Challenge

Pure Storage, a leading enterprise data storage solutions company, operates a large and intricate codebase, including over 2.1 million lines of C++, alongside significant Python and Go components. 

Their initial adoption of GitHub Copilot proved insufficient for their needs, as it struggled with:

Debugging and Error Resolution

Memory leaks, segmentation faults, and performance bottlenecks were common challenges. "A key challenge I faced was converting an entire React library from one UI framework to another while maintaining the ability to easily bring in upstream changes," said Richard Hefner, Senior Software Engineer at Pure Storage.

Another recurring issue was ensuring code accuracy and validation. Engineers found that subtle mathematical or logical errors could be difficult to catch without additional oversight.

Code Navigation and Understanding

Developers faced difficulties modifying and understanding unfamiliar sections across the vast multi-language repository. "With C++ templating, every codebase seems to have 'its own way of doing things,' often far removed from what's familiar," explained Scott Kim, Software Engineer at Pure Storage. The engineers also had to work with technologies outside their usual expertise, such as extending SQL projects using new toolkits. Identifying the right components and understanding existing test macros in these cases was particularly challenging.

Onboarding and Team Integration

With the impending merger of two engineering teams, accelerating onboarding and improving knowledge transfer became crucial. New engineers needed to ramp up quickly, but navigating the massive C++ codebase and understanding its conventions proved to be a significant hurdle.

Why Augment Code?

Seeking a more intelligent and context-aware AI coding assistant, Pure Storage selected Augment for its ability to deeply understand C++ and enhance developer workflows:

Advanced C++ Code Comprehension

Augment provided deeper context on templates, memory management, and complex class dependencies. "Augment is definitely smarter than other AIs—it usually gets things right before the others do and creates higher-quality code," said Hefner.

Understanding and Simplifying Code

AI-powered insights helped engineers quickly identify and resolve runtime issues, memory leaks, and logical errors, significantly reducing debugging time. "Augment helps me easily find features in areas where I lack familiarity. Later, when I developed some complex queries with lots of conditionals, I asked Augment to help me simplify them. It produced a replacement that was much more streamlined and readable," shared a developer.

Seamless Code Navigation and Explanation

Developers could easily locate relevant functions, understand dependencies, and navigate legacy code with Augment’s guidance. "Augment was extremely helpful—I could ask questions like, 'What does this do? How is it used? Why do we do it this way?' and get answers pointing me in the right direction," said Kim.

Professional and Context-Aware Suggestions

Unlike other tools, Augment provides thoughtful suggestions. "I feel like the suggestions are much more professional and helpful in Augment vs. Copilot. For example, in Copilot, whenever I started typing a comment like '// This is ', it would suggest '// This is kind of a hack, but ...' and then proceed to shrug about the code. Augment never does this; its comment suggestions are always focused on the code and seem to describe the feature well," shared a Pure Storage developer.

Results and Benefits

Increased Developer Productivity

Over 130,000 completions accepted into the codebase, with 77% of chat-driven suggestions implemented. "I continue to come back to Augment because the code quality is higher, and it continues to improve over time," said Hefner.

Faster Debugging and Code Navigation

Engineers rapidly resolved bugs and navigated complex dependencies with AI-assisted guidance. "Augment points me in the right direction rather than flooding my desk buddy with basic questions," said Kim.

Accelerated Onboarding

New engineers ramped up significantly faster, reducing onboarding time from months to weeks.

About Pure Storage

Pure Storage is a global leader in enterprise data storage solutions, delivering innovative and scalable storage technologies that drive efficiency and performance. Their engineering team focuses on optimizing large-scale, high-performance infrastructure, leveraging AI-powered tools like Augment to maximize developer efficiency.

Industry: Enterprise Data Storage, Cloud Infrastructure
Location: Mountain View, CA
Team Size: 2000+ Engineers

Languages, Frameworks, Libraries: C++, Python, Go
IDE: VS Code, JetBrains, Vim