VS Code

Explained

Tool

Also known as: Visual Studio Code

Microsoft’s lightweight, extensible code editor and the most popular editor in the world.

VS Code, explained

Written by EduVerse

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free code editor from Microsoft. On its own it’s a fast editor with a file explorer, search, Git support, a debugger and a built-in terminal; extensions add support for almost any language or framework. It’s a separate product from Visual Studio, Microsoft’s full IDE.

Why teams use it

It starts quickly, handles many languages in one window and is easy to shape to your needs, which is why many teams use it for web development. Full IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA understand one language more deeply out of the box; VS Code gets a long way there once you add the right extensions.

An example from work

You open a cloned repository and a notification asks whether to install the extensions recommended for it, such as ESLint and Prettier, because the project contains .vscode/extensions.json. You accept, open the built-in terminal through Terminal, New Terminal, and start the project without leaving the editor.

Our own explanation, not a quote from the book.

Where it fits

Code editor for almost every programming language

Coverage in the book