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Microsoft Visual Studio Code

Microsoft Visual Studio Code

Overview

What is Microsoft Visual Studio Code?

Microsoft offers Visual Studio Code, a text editor that supports code editing, debugging, IntelliSense syntax highlighting, and other features.

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Recent Reviews

Visual Studio Code - happy coding

9 out of 10
July 12, 2023
It is a mighty and lightweight IDE which never seen. It supports almost all the languages. It has extensive verities of extensions for …
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One of the best code editors

8 out of 10
January 17, 2023
Visual Studio Code has been really helpful to me, allowing me to utilize my time more effectively and accomplish the task, more thanks to …
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Awesome IDE for Developers

8 out of 10
December 15, 2022
Visual Code Studio is used in my organization for development operations like coding, debugging, sharing code, using git clone thorough …
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VS Code - You will love it

10 out of 10
April 30, 2022
1. Writing day-to-day code 2. running and debugging my Flutter apps 3. Write Test code for my projects 4. Access remote host via pem file …
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Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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What is Microsoft Visual Studio Code?

Microsoft offers Visual Studio Code, a text editor that supports code editing, debugging, IntelliSense syntax highlighting, and other features.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

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Product Details

What is Microsoft Visual Studio Code?

Microsoft Visual Studio Code Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Microsoft offers Visual Studio Code, a text editor that supports code editing, debugging, IntelliSense syntax highlighting, and other features.

Microsoft Visual Studio Code starts at $0.

Reviewers rate Usability highest, with a score of 10.

The most common users of Microsoft Visual Studio Code are from Enterprises (1,001+ employees).
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Reviews and Ratings

(845)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 67)
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Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It is a mighty and lightweight IDE which never seen. It supports almost all the languages. It has extensive verities of extensions for building applications. It also provides flexibility to run applications in different ports. I widely use this editor to develop react, react native, angular JavaScript, etc. as per my development experience you will never regret using this vs code ide.
  • Ease to use
  • Light weight take less time to start ide
  • Wide verities of extensions.
  • Ease to connect with repositories
  • Dubugger is complex based on applications
  • Some time exteions works very weard
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Visual Code Studio is used in my organization for development operations like coding, debugging, sharing code, using git clone thorough it. It is completely used by all of us for writing code and do practice on it. It is a code editor which helps in getting error easily in fact it shows it shows error during writing code and also recommend best way to write code. It is used also for deployment also. All files can be opened and used. We can use terminal also to run.
  • Shows error while writing code.
  • Provide Terminal to run the code
  • Various package available
  • Different languages supports like python, java, c, c++.
  • supports different technology
  • split view
  • git integration
  • provide instruction on each piece of code
VS Code editor makes it easier to write code. Whenever we type any code, it shows error if code contains error, this is the best part.
It also provides live server to show output. we can have different package that is to be imported and installed. this allows to use different features to use.
No of extension of different can also be used.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use [Microsoft] Visual Studio Code as a web application developer performing a variety of programming tasks. As a solo consultant and in my capacity as a member of a team I choose Visual Studio Code as my primary tool. This software is robust, features a fantastic plugin architecture, and a plethora of customization options; the fact that it is also a free download is icing on the cake.
  • Robust plugin architecture replete with fantastic add-ons that make developer life delightful.
  • Integrated Terminal window allows you to stay in one application to perform most required tasks.
  • Customization options are robust. It is easy to modify VS Code to your own specifications.
  • It's free! Hard to believe such a well made, well maintained, robust software is a free download.
  • Command+P/Command+Shift+P key commands will improve your workflow dramatically.
  • Inconsistent methods to change settings. Sometimes must be done in the JSON file. Sometimes in the UI.
  • Application error messages sometime appear without enough information to resolve them.
  • Does not have built in functionality to display SVG file preview.
[Microsoft Visual Studio Code] is a great tool for any web application developer to use whether a beginner or advanced coder. The large variety of plugins that expand functionality are wonderful. There are many tutorials online that utilize VS Code reinforcing the choice. It has an attractive design and It's free! Doesn't get much better than that.
Greg Garnhart | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is by no means required by our organization, but many developers use it. Though I am but a lowly intern, most of my peers and immediate bosses use it to edit code, debug projects, and push to different repos. The added convenience of the VS Code plugins store allows for quick and rapid integration with different technologies, code checkers (such as jslint), and more. It's also free, so there is really no reason not to try it.
  • It's insanely stable. I used to have problems with Atom (to be fair this was over 2 years ago) so I made the switch. Since, I can count the amount of times VS Code has crashed on one hand.
  • It's lightweight and acts like it too. It's boot time is very quick.
  • The support online is good - a lot of tutorials use it, so it's easy to follow along with.
  • Debugging can be confusing depending on the language!
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is perfect for lightweight apps, most web apps, and things that do not need a fully-fledged IDE. IntelliJ is better suited for Java apps, so use IntelliJ for Java apps! In my experience, VS Code is great for languages that are easy to run from the command line, especially things that need consistent and easy deployments.
Bimal Subedi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Being an IT company, our organization needs to develop various lines of code every day to develop our clients' products. Writing codes in traditional text editors like notepad, notepad++ is a bit tricky. There is no even delimiter matching in the notepad. This had created a huge problem in our organization. To solve these problems, our organization began to use Microsoft Visual Studio Code. Using this tool, we can easily search for required files and required lines of code. Errors are automatically detected by using suitable packages for the programming language that we are working on. Also, we can take benefit of the inbuilt terminal in the software.
  • Checks error while writing codes
  • Provides great Extensions so that it can support almost any language
  • Git and Github implementaion can be done easily
  • Newly added Gihub Copilot crashes a lot.
  • It would be better if php and python deployment was made easier.
  • Searching for settings is a bit complicated.
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is well suited for emerging developers who want to increase their productivity while coding new lines of code. Developers can get a package of all the tools needed for them in this single software which is really fascinating. For people other than the programming field, this tool is less appropriate.
ANurag Tamrakar | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
VSCode makes it easier to write code. Whenever you make a syntax error or a typo it warns you immediately, which is really awesome! Also, it enables us to integrate debugger, lint, build, and publishing tools. It even comes with a huge set of plugins, which makes it superior! It supports almost every language, but if a language is not supported or if it's missing you can add it.
  • It helps us write code without errors.
  • It also helps us with building and testing code on the fly and deploying code locally.
  • It's better than any other paid or free IDE/Text Editor.
  • I didn't find any problem with using VSCode.
  • Yes, there were some bug in the previous release, but now those are fixed.
It's open-source and has a very big community. Plugins are available for almost every language/framework to lint, build, and test code. UI/UX looks premium. Last but not least, it's free! It is well suited to us and there is not any scenario where it is not appropriate. I would recommend everyone to use it.
Tao Mihiranga | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Our company provides web-based applications, mobile applications, and graphic designs. Mostly we are using Microsoft Visual Studio Code day-to-day work life. It is a very comfortable IDE software for debugging, task running, and version control. We are working with Python, PHP, java, javascript, and many more languages. even, for mobile application development, we are using the Microsoft Visual Studio Code.
  • According to me, auto save function is a one of the best feature in VS Code.
  • A lot of extensions provide by VS Code. It's made our code very smooth and more powerful.
  • It is very configurable and can use many predefined actions.
  • Debugging supporter AI should be more improved.
  • Hard to change setting on VS Code. so that should be more user-friendly
  • Sometimes VS Code gets high CPU usage for running. so, the machine freezes sometimes.
I used different kinds of IDE software before. But VS Code is the best IDE I ever used. I am using this software in my day-to-day work life. I have to work with python, PHP, javascript, and java. I don't need different IDEs for Different languages, I can code with this one IDE platform. Compared with other IDE software, this is the most powerful and lightweight IDE software.
Satbir Singh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
It's [the] best lightweight code editor used by most developers in all departments.
  • Support for multiple programming languages with Intelli-Sense
  • Availability of extensions and support (Live Server, CSS Peek, Prettier and many others)
  • Free of cost
  • Built-in code formatting would be appreciated (just like Prettier - Code formatter)
  • A virtual device emulation in side panel for seeing output of code will be great
  • Needs a built in DB support jut like in XAMPP
[The] most user-friendly solution in its segment for all types of coding (from a beginner to pro). It brings all level of developers to single platform for a while.
Great for web development (HTML, CSS, JSON)
Apurv Doshi | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Visual Studio Code is a default editor for the developer groups who are working mostly on Python, Javascript, Docker, C++ and PowerShell in our organization. The VS Code supports the day-to-day development activities like programming, debugging and source code management (Bitbucket). The flexibility that VS Code brings is a tempting lot of developers to migrate towards it in our organization.
  • Excellent customization available for Text Editor, Keyboard shortcuts, Syntax highlighting and Workspace view.
  • Lots of Extensions available for different languages which make code even more versatile.
  • The debugging tools are really matured and help to put breakpoints, conditional breakpoints, local variables view, class variable view, immediate resolution of expressions, and call stack for function call. It also supports multi-threaded debugging as well.
  • It is light weight and efficiently manages big workspaces even with machines with lower configurations.
  • Direct support of major repositories make the code management much easier.
  • Multiple workspaces can be operated in parallel.
  • Setting interface is bit complex. It should be way more simpler as compared to the current one.
  • The plugins needs to reviewed more. Few plugins causes the VS Code to hang/crash.
  • Sometimes Auto suggestion and Syntax highlighting makes VS Code sluggish.
This is one of the best editors and supports most of the development work. I would highly recommend to go for the Visual Studio. I have not come across any scenarios where I feel that the editor is not appropriate. The only thing that requires a little more attention is the usage of any third-party extensions. Sometimes they cause the VS Code to hang/crash. Apart from that, it is the de-facto choice for me.
Sean Patterson | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is used by our developers on projects of many different language types. It is used when building .Net Core WebAPIs, Angular SPA, and React front end pages. It is also used for Python development with some of our hardware and ML/AI needs. With it available on all computing platforms, it is our most used tool and can be shared by all team members.
  • Powerful
  • Lightweight
  • Extendable
  • Free
  • In-depth debugging
Visual Studio Code is well suited for nearly any coding project imaginable. Its ability to do powerful multi-line select and regular expression searching makes it an amazing text editor as well. With all the extensions available, it can even be used as a small SQL explorer tool and Jupyter Notebook. The only thing it might not be suitable for is an application where you need in-depth debugging or performance profiling, but I would not be surprised if those tools are on the way.
Moris Mendez | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Currently our department is using Microsoft Visual Studio Code as the main tool for the development of programs and systems that help meet the objectives of our department, in addition to being of great help for the maintenance of systems that are already implemented.
Although Microsoft Visual Studio Code is one of the best options for developing systems, it still does not have the desired presence throughout our organization because many are unaware of the potential of this tool.
  • Code analysis of applications or systems already implemented is of great help to detect syntax errors or functions that are obsolete
  • The automatic linking of functions or procedures installed in programming blocks is fantastic, since we must not remember the address or the name of the file where the definition of the function or procedure is.
  • The customization of the entire environment provides accelerated productivity by being able to choose the extensions or plugins that best suit our development pace
  • The customization of key combinations should be more accessible and easier to change
  • The auxiliary panels could be minimized or as floating tabs which are displayed when you click on them
  • A monitoring panel of resources used by Microsoft Visual Studio Code or plugins and extensions would help a lot to be able to detect any malfunction of these
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is highly recommended for the development of systems and / or complex applications entrusted to work teams under a specific methodology, and its use is also recommended for the maintenance of previously developed applications.
It is not recommended as a learning environment for developers with little experience as the learning curve would be too high
Jude Allred | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
[Microsoft Visual Studio Code is] used widely by engineers across our organization. Since it's a free and trusted tool, it has easy adoption. It works well as a general purpose text editor for code and configuration files, as well as an IDE for more sophisticated coding projects. Some projects are written to use VS Code heavily, others are written to use other IDEs but are still compatible with VS Code. It's a strong part of any engineer's toolkit.
  • Very accessible -- it's compatible with all platforms and environments, free to install, and fast to open
  • Strong native support for many languages, and very strong extensibility to provide advanced language features
  • Git integration is top-notch, often displaying a better history, diff, and merge interface that is otherwise available in version control systems
  • It's a fantastic generalist product and the only areas where it falls short are when its ecosystem of extensions aren't widely available for unpopular languages... but even in those cases its basic text editing abilities are so strong that it remains compellingly useful.
  • If you're using a legacy version control system, VS Code won't have native integrations out of the box... but there will be extensions for them.
Every software engineer has a text editor in their toolkit. Long ago "Vim" and "emacs" were the champions, and are still well-loved by many. For a while, Notepad++ and Sublime were very popular. These days, VSCode is the answer. When you're editing code or configuration files, you'll either reach for this.

In addition to being well suited for general cases, VSCode's extension framework makes it very well suited to managing entire codebases-- compiler integrations, autoformatters, linters, quality checkers, etc., all abound in the ecosystem. On top of that, there's a very strong Git integration, seamlessly embedded in the editor that just comes to life when the information is available.

And it's completely free and fast to install. Everyone should try it.
June 20, 2021

Best free IDE

Balázs Kiss | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Visual Studio Code as an alternative to our main IDE in the company. With the new features and progression of the IDE lately, we accept it as a same-value alternative for any coding task. We use VSCode for education purposes as well, and as a built-in IDE in browser-based examples during lectures. Visual Studio Code personalization and plugins are widely used in our company.
  • Code compilation.
  • Low resource-costs.
  • Highly customizable.
  • Fast programming and debugging experience.
  • Performance bottlenecks.
  • Third party plugin loading sometimes crash.
  • Navigation options.
As it is very easy to install, completely free, and very intuitive overall, it's really good for beginner programmers. Highly customizable, easy to use, and has tons of quality of life improvements to serve as a serious IDE as well. This is one of the two, maybe three IDEs we use for any web-based programming (but not only just for those). Visual Studio Code is one of the de-facto IDE you should use in 2021.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are using Visual Studio Code for coding and testing purposes. Mainly our IT department is using the software because it is built for developers. It is easy to use, supports multiple languages at the same time so you do not need to switch the apps for development and testing purposes. It has built in terminal which is one of the most useful feature.
  • Multiple Coding Languages Support
  • Easy to use
  • Built-in Git Support
  • Multiple Projects at same time
  • No support for Database
  • Development for Mac/iOS is not supported
It is useful in almost all the scenarios, it has supports [for] multiple languages so you don't need to switch the IDE every time while coding. There are so many extensions which makes coding easy and seamless like Beautifier of code etc. It is very light-weight so starts very easily and runs on any config devices.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
IDE choice is entirely up to engineers' personal preference within my organisation, but an overwhelming majority of my colleagues choose to use Microsoft Visual Studio Code. The quality of the editor in itself is fantastic to start with, but when combined with plugins (of which there are many in the ecosystem) it becomes truly invaluable for us in maintaining code quality and speeding up development through its various in-built and extended features. This means that coding can remain pretty consistent amongst engineers (at least in terms of conventions) and that configuration in certain languages and projects can be shared and enforced with relative ease, for example when linting various filetypes.
  • Free, quick and easy to install
  • Extensive plugin ecosystem and support
  • Extensible in configuration and personalisation
  • Personal settings can easily be synced to a personal or group source code management platform
  • Intuitive to use
  • Some plugins can be inconsistent in quality
  • Performance can be affected with many plugins running (especially linting or hinting)
  • Can be a bit of a "one size fits all" rather than specialised
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is suitable for almost any coding needs, though it is specifically best for web-based projects. As far as I'm aware is very commonly geared towards the relatively recent explosion in javascript, TypeScript and similar languages, with some other competitors possibly being more suitable for lower-level languages (e.g. Java, C# etc). Certainly a lot of the plugin ecosystem appears to centre around frontend language features for the various languages and frameworks, this is generally what I personally use it for, and so I don't know with any great confidence that it's particularly unsuitable for other languages, rather that I've not used it for other purposes.
I generally would, and have, recommend Microsoft Visual Studio Code to any web engineer who is not already using it.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Microsoft Visual Studio Code for coding all kinds of software and web applications. From building web forms to coding software and mainly PHP because that is not supported by Visual Studio IDE. So, this is the best fit for that. It is free so that is also a big plus.
  • Works with all coding languages
  • Free to use
  • Easy to integrate with git
  • I wish it was easier to compile code
  • Can't think of many issues, it is honestly very good
It is best if you need a light weight IDE to manage and write code, edit a single file on the fly or even store some note. Super light and support all coding languages syntax. It is not the best choice if you want to manage a full C# project for example In would use Visual Studio for that.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft Visual Studio [Code] is currently being used to develop our internal system and clients database. Through it, we maintain our current software and develop new features as required by the operations team, and as the business changes through time. All personnel uses the applications being developed using Visual Studio.
  • Easy to use user interface.
  • Good integration to code repositories.
  • Cood integration with third party components.
  • Integration to new Git repositories can be better.
[Microsoft Visual Studio Code] is very flexible and you can code in your preferred language, from C, C++, C# to Visual Basic. It integrates well to third party developed components that make your coding faster. The programs that can be coded using Visual Studio can be run on desktops (Windows Forms), browsers (ASP.NET) or on servers as command line routines. If you are lacking development time and monetary resources to buy components, there maybe other development frameworks that could suit your business better.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
VS Code is very lightweight so every one of us is using it. Primarily we are using Atom, PyCharm, etc. When we started with VS Code, we never used any other IDE. It is easily operated on low configurations of the system. It's an awesome app.
  • Lightweight IDE
  • It supports a variety of programming languages
  • Integrated teminal
  • Emmet abbreviations
  • A little slow sometimes
  • Does not support unit testing
  • All else is awesome
Visual Studio Code is an awesome app written in electron with very easy-to-use features. Replace function for all of the files is a point. It can also be used as a good debugger in comparison to other products.
Ryan McGarry | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Microsoft Visual Studio Code for writing and debugging our Python and Java based applications. Visual Studio Code is a useful tool that assists us with quickly writing and updating our scripts. It is lightweight and has a number of nice built-in features, such as automatically highlighting the same variables in the interface.
  • Nice built-in features like auto-highlighting repeating variables
  • It's lightweight
  • Helpful for quick script modification
  • It would be nice to have the option for a Spyder-style UI
  • More advanced debugging features would be helpful
  • Including a built-in screen for package management
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is excellent for quick modification or working with scripts that you may have in your code base. As an example, I would often conduct experiments using scripts that were based on PsychoPy, and on a number of occasions, I had to quickly update a script or two shortly before a participant was tested with their particular code or counterbalance number. Most scripting programs would take a significant amount of time to make a simple modification, and would be bogged down with a heavy UI, but Visual Studio Code make this process quick and painless.
Theodore K. Langston | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
As a freelance designer developer I use Microsoft Visual Studio Code as a primary component in my web development workflow. It is an essential code editor that I use exclusively for web development. The feature set and additional add-ons make it a fundamental tool in my development stack.
  • Code editing
  • git and versioning
  • autocomplete
  • formatting
  • Sometimes too many options
  • more focus on terminal
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is well suited for your code writing, editing and compiling needs. Error handling and troubleshooting can be made easier with add-ons. A wealth of programming languages are supported. Terminal integration along with git repository handling are a welcome feature. It is not yet a code-in-browser solution.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Microsoft [Visual Studio] Code is a featured-packed code editor that works with many different languages and has the flexibility to be as extensive or as simple as needed. It is perfect for developers who often need to work with many different languages at the same time. "IntelliSense" code completion along with robust debugging tools make it easier and faster to fix errors in the code. Above all, its extensive extension library allows for integration with many different programming environments and allows for customization as you see fit. For instance, we can run Python code right inside VS Code split-screen tab without needing to open another IDE.
  • Incredible tabbed window management that allows grid-based split screen
  • Application functionality can be expanded through many different extensions/plugins available
  • Decently fast and easy to use
  • Themes are customizable to liking
  • Some plugins/extensions that are available can cause stability issues especially if they are installed together
  • Extension management can sometimes get complicated
  • The app does from time to time consume more resources than necessary but a restart usually fixes it
[Microsoft] Visual Studio Code is perfect for those who need a little more than notepad++/barebones text editors but also don't need the bloat that comes from pricier alternatives such as dreamweaver CC.
[Microsoft Visual Studio Code] is also perfect for web developers as they are more likely to be working within different programming environments at the same time. With VS Code, it is possible organize all of your code (JS, HTML, CSS, PHP, etc) all in a single window by making use of its docking features. It is also free so smaller businesses can benefit from no upfront licensing costs. There is however a bit of a learning curve for those interested in making use of its extension library to add functionality. These extensions can cause issues or cause the app to run slow if they are not of good quality/out of date
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Software engineers in our organization use Visual Studio Code by their own choice, and usually to develop software as per their job requirements. Although, our engineering department makes available licenses for full-fledged IDEs like IntelliJ RubyMine for that purpose, many developers choose editors like Code because of its lightweight nature and extensibility.
  • It is fast and snappy in most cases, unlike IDEs (IntelliJ, Eclipse etc.) that take quite a lot of time to start up and are sluggish even during use (including on high-end Macbook Pros).
  • It provides great and top-notch support for a huge number of languages and web development frameworks. This support is either built-in or provided using first-party (Microsoft) or third-party extensions. E.g. Microsoft provides its own extension for Python, and Golang provides an official Visual Studio Code extension.
  • Microsoft keeps continuously improving Code with new features and performance improvements.
  • Unlike for most languages I have used, Ruby and Rails support available for Code users isn't great. The most popular Ruby extension is unofficial, and leaves much to desire. As an example, code navigation even with language server Solargraph installed isn't as good as IntelliJ's RubyMine.
  • Even there is quite good support for a language or a framework, it is almost never as good as a dedicated IDE for it. In terms of the sheer number of features available, IntelliJ IDEs handily beat Code.
  • Microsoft has close-sourced some of the extensions it develops for Code itself, e.g. Pylance for Python, and that has not been perceived as a good move for open-source.
If you want a snappy text editor that can handle almost any language you throw at it, provides decent code navigation, is not memory-intensive and can do without advanced support for your particular language that you would expect from an IDE, you should go for it. Keep in mind that even if you like IDEs more, you may end up paying a lot for your subscription, while Visual Studio Code is free.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I can speak for my team. We use [Microsoft Visual Studio Code] to develop [a] variety of applications. Its a feature rich ide with support for plugins, themes, voice chats and collaboration tools as well. Basically, all of our web application development work is done in [Microsoft Visual Studio Code]. It has great integration with github which is also a staple requirement of any developer today.

I am pretty sure it is also used throughout the organization but I can speak for myself and the team only.
  • Github integration
  • Plugin support
  • Integration with all command line tools
  • Collaboration features
  • Debugging tools
  • Visually attractive
  • A little bit heavy on system but so are other ide.
  • Java support is a bit clunky
For ANY development work, just go with [Microsoft Visual Studio Code]. It supports syntax highlighting for all languages, has great debugging tools, has tight integration with github. For example, you don't have to use ides for specific languages or purpose such as pycharm or webstorm. [Microsoft Visual Studio Code] has tons of plugins to cater development in a specific programing language or domain.


I think all this is great for any developer.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use VSCode as our primary IDE for front-end software development, especially for Angular, and as a general-purpose text editor for nearly anything. It's especially used in my web development department but also used to a lesser degree in other software development groups in my organization. It allows us to have a consistent dev environment that's easy for new folks to learn while still being flexible enough for us to add our own plugins.
  • It's free & open source
  • Intuitive UI
  • Time-saving keyboard shortcuts
  • Large library of plugins
  • Integrates well with a large number programming languages.
  • Lighter-weight/faster than full Visual Studio.
  • Improvements/updates are rapid.
  • The debugger isn't as powerful as full Visual Studio.
  • It doesn't understand C#/.NET as well as Visual Studio.
  • It doesn't have built-in support for running unit tests.
  • Certain plugins like ReSharper aren't available.
For front-end web development, and even for some other tasks, like node.js development, or really anything that runs in Javascript/Typescript, I don't think there is any IDE better than Visual Studio Code. Between the plugins available to add support for various frameworks, and the excellent support for HTML and other web languages built into it, it's an excellent experience. Some other IDEs may be better suited if doing development in a language that VSCode doesn't support very well, or if you want a very heavy-weight IDE with extensive profiling features and tools to resolve memory leaks.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
At my company, we use Microsoft Visual Studio Code as one of our IDE options in our development group. We let each developer choose which IDE they prefer. Most often, we are developing with PHP and JS. Microsoft Visual Studio Code is very helpful for its Intellisense, git integration, and debugger. Further, its supported extensions allow for integration with several other third-party applications that can significantly speed up projects on a case-by-case basis. While we use it for PHP and JS development, it supports many other languages as well and really brings in a lot of the feeling of traditional Visual Studio.
  • Intellisense significantly speeds up coding process.
  • Debugger allows for stepping through code and more easily identifying issues.
  • Git integration saves time by not requiring running a separate application or command line.
  • Indexed code allows for better navigation of your repository and libraries when learning new code bases.
  • I personally have some trouble setting up the code linting. I have had a slightly easier time of that with PHP Storm.
  • Sometimes the Intellisense autocomplete seems to be missing functions. I presume this is due to something I have not set up properly within the code repository, but I have yet to figure out why.
Microsoft Visual Studio Code is particularly well suited to larger projects that tie in several libraries. It is especially helpful when needing to discover how a library or a plugin works, as you can easily navigate through the various functions and files and see how they tie together. This is especially helpful when dealing with a mishmash of well structured vs not as well structured code, where things are not always placed where you would expect. It has also helped with large version upgrades (particularly Drupal) where functionality can change drastically and must be knit back into the project.

I would not say there is a coding situation where Microsoft Visual Studio Code is not appropriate. It can be a little bit of overkill on a small, simple HTML project or JS app, but even then you are not losing anything with it. I would not choose to something like Sublime Text in these situations, but I could see why some people would.
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