A code assist function which suggests candidates responsive to a parsing of a partial program instruction statement is configured by displaying a list of user-selectable preferences; allowing a user to select one of the user-selectable preferences; storing the selected one of the user-selectable preferences; and configuring the code assist function to display the selected one of the user-selectable preferences responsive to a parsing of a partial program instruction statement. User-selectable preferences may be selected such as a longer or shorter list of candidates; a longer or shorter representation keyword candidates; a full syntax or partial syntax representation of a candidate; and a character case representation of a candidate.