Item: Microsoft Visual Studio Code
Rating: 10
Author: Ryan McGarry

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

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.

Pros and Cons

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

Most Important Features

Lightweight UI
Simple script modification
Basic debugging options

Return on Investment

Positive impact on minimizing time wasted by employees with software installation and setup
Positive impact on reducing spend on software licensing
Positive impact on minimizing time used to manage different applications for different purposes - this performs all of the functions we need in basic coding

Alternatives Considered

Spyder, Anaconda, MATLAB and Jupyter Notebook

Microsoft Visual Studio Code is more lightweight than most other options, such as Spyder and MATLAB. These other applications provide strong benefits such as a useful user interface that displays information about variables in in your workspace, as well as a window for built-in plotting. However, they also have longer load times and bog down the user more.
Visual Studio code is also free, which is great when you consider how expensive competitors can be. For example, MATLAB has a base cost and then requires that you pay for add-on toolboxes (e.g. The Signal Processing, Machine Learning, and Deep Learning toolboxes will cost you thousands of dollars). You can use free packages in Python with Visual Studio Code to have the same functionality.

Key Insights

Do you think Microsoft Visual Studio Code delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft Visual Studio Code's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft Visual Studio Code live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Microsoft Visual Studio Code go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Microsoft Visual Studio Code again?

Yes

Other Software Used

MATLAB, Spyder, Jupyter Notebook, Anaconda

Likelihood to Recommend

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.

Visual Studio Code provides the lightweight UI that you didn't even know you wanted

Overall Satisfaction with Microsoft Visual Studio Code