But again, it's possible too that they might have come up with these features coincidentally. And I agree code templates are not a new idea.
What I have really learned from this situation is to see these things positively. Good ideas are just a good start. What really makes the difference is the underlying execution and the vision behind.
I know what it feels like when you think somebody has stolen your idea. It sucks and feels like whoever stole the idea has robbed you of untold fortunes.
My comment was unnecessarily uncivil, but your idea is still not a new idea. You already know this, though.
I agree with another commenter; Google is probably not capable of implementing a feature like this in such a short amount of time so it is likely that they were already working on this before they saw what you sent them.
Keep coming up with good ideas, and I'll try to think before I speak.
I have enough friends at google that when I say "the product you are working on should have feature X" they smile knowingly at me, but say they can't talk about that. Many times it shows up later.
the response you got, of “there’s some lively conversation internally at Google" is exactly the same thing. They have been talking about it already, but they cant tip their hat to tell you anymore.