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Visual Studio Code is now open source

1325 points| BruceM | 10 years ago |code.visualstudio.com

391 comments

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[+] smortaz|10 years ago|reply
We've been asked this by a few people, so I figured this is a good place to respond:

Will PTVS (Python Tools for Visual Studio) come to VSCode?

The answer is YES! This will be a major focus next year. Expect full intellisense, debugging, profiling, pkg mgmt, unit test, virtual env, multiple interpreter, Jupyter, etc. support.

Disc: Python/R/Jupyter team lead

https://www.visualstudio.com/features/python-vs

[+] skrebbel|10 years ago|reply
A question: If I'm not mistaken, PTVS is basically a whole bunch of Visual Studio plugins, presumably not written in JavaScript. Since VS Code is a while different program made in a different language and a different UI framework, does this simply mean there will be a new bunch of py/r/jupy plugins for VS Code, accidentally made by the same team?

Or does VS Code have more VS-compatible integration options than I knew of, which you're going to use to port PTVS over?

[+] sparkling|10 years ago|reply
As a Python-lover: this is awesome. There is a need for something with good Python support in-between a full blown PyCharm and plain VIM
[+] benlower|10 years ago|reply
This is great news. Now all we need is a proper terminal in Windows that includes Python out of the box ;)
[+] vvanders|10 years ago|reply
That's awesome PTVS is fantastic.
[+] oblio|10 years ago|reply
Sort of off-topic, but could you please fix the telemetry reporting? https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/FAQ

The current configuration setting is in the app folder which means that it gets deleted after updates.

It's kind of not nice to use opt-out instead of opt-in for this. Even if it's a product management requirement, surely it could me made so that the setting is saved across updates, making VSCode feel less like annoy-o-ware.

[+] fithisux|10 years ago|reply
I hope Visual D will also come to VSCode.
[+] micah_chatt|10 years ago|reply
This would be awesome! The one other thing I'd love to see is the docker + python support.
[+] giancarlostoro|10 years ago|reply
This is fantastic news. The main two IDE's I always use are PTVS and PyCharm... This is definitely great to see a full Python environment for VSCode.
[+] kup0|10 years ago|reply
I wasn't sure what to expect from VSC, especially going into it I was worried that it would just be a MS-branded, bloated version of an already-slow Atom.

My expectations were completely wrong, though. VSC is not bloated or slow. It's well-made. There aren't really any negative MS-flavored conventions as far as I can tell. This isn't MS Office (which I guess has its place but has gone off the deep end, IMHO). It looks like it's on a path towards becoming a pretty powerful tool, more than just a text editor, and more than just a clone of Atom.

The MS branding will unfortunately keep people away that like to judge books by their cover. But that says more about their own problems and unwillingness than it does about MS.

I don't understand why we have to throw ourselves into brand "camps" and defend them to the death. It's dumb. I like Linux, I use an assortment of operating systems depending on my needs, and I don't see any reason why a decent effort/product can't be appreciated, no matter what company produces it.

[+] avivo|10 years ago|reply
FYI, it seems that Visual Studio sends a lot of data about your usage back to Microsoft.

"This includes information about how you use the products and services, such as the features you use, the web pages you visit, and the search terms you enter." (among other things such as name & device identifiers https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/dn948229)

You can disable this...but it requires you to re-disable it on every product update. https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/FAQ#_how-to-di...

Is this now standard practice?

[+] stoolpigeon|10 years ago|reply
I really hate how MS names things. Microsoft SQL Server, or as most people call it SQL Server. I read the title to this post as Visual Studio code is now open-source - but it's not. The product some genius called Visual Studio Code has been opened.

I'm really surprised Windows isn't called Microsoft Operating System, or Operating System for short.

[+] yread|10 years ago|reply
> Operating System for short.

Brilliant idea. Why not go all the way and call it OS. We could then have OS 10 from MS and OS X from Apple!

[+] swalsh|10 years ago|reply
Eh honestly, I prefer the naming of things "what they are" as opposed to these open source names. Sometimes I wonder if ruby programmers aren't eating enough. Building an API might mean you use Cucumber, and Grape.
[+] dragonwriter|10 years ago|reply
> I really hate how MS names things. Microsoft SQL Server, or as most people call it SQL Server.

Or, worse, just "SQL", resulting in people in some enterprise environments saying things like "Are you using Oracle or SQL?"

[+] bitwize|10 years ago|reply
You mean like Microsoft Disk Operating System from back in the day?
[+] shurcooL|10 years ago|reply
I partially blame the title. Why does it capitalize normal words in addition to the product name?

Had the title been "Visual Studio Code is now open-source" it would've been more readable IMO.

It also helps to be familiar that VSC is a product.

[+] kul_|10 years ago|reply
Yes, its misleading for sure. I think `Visual Studio Code` has like 1% of features of full blown Visual Studio?
[+] hohenheim|10 years ago|reply
I had no idea until I read your comment. I overlooked "Code". I though Visual Studio is open-sourced and got excited :(
[+] micah_chatt|10 years ago|reply
I actually visited the VS Code team at Microsoft a few weeks ago for a product-research day where they brought in developers from small teams from around the US. I had heard that this was the plan, and I'm excited to see that it has since happened. They showed some compelling features (still not-yet released) that I think would bring this well-beyond a simple Atom competitor. Once they bring the debugging and linting features to other languages (Python, Ruby, Go), I think this won't just be seen in the same category as Atom.
[+] denisw|10 years ago|reply
They acutally demoed Go debugging in the Connect conference keynote today [1], together with the open-source announcement. It has been implemented as part of an extension written by someone inside of Microsoft, if I remember correctly (support for extensions was also announced).

[1] https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Visual-Studio/Connect-event...

[+] forgotAgain|10 years ago|reply
I've been thinking for a while that what Go needs to become more widely used is an IDE with debugger. I'm numb (with a grin on my face) that it's coming from Microsoft.

I've read they're beta testing Go on Azure. Another good thing for sure.

[+] marpstar|10 years ago|reply
Micah! I sat next to you on the bus that morning on the way to campus.

I knew after we left that day that Microsoft was on the right track, but with all the announcements today they've really shown that they're committed to cross platform tools.

[+] cableshaft|10 years ago|reply
I already use VS Code for Python scripts. Even without the lint feature I enjoy the experience. Although before that I was primarily using Notepad++ for Python. Good to know it's on the horizon, though.
[+] mkaziz|10 years ago|reply
VSC has revolutionized how I code on Linux. Thank you, Microsoft!
[+] gilbertw1|10 years ago|reply
That's a combination of words I never thought I'd see together.
[+] joeyaiello|10 years ago|reply
Shameless self-plug: we also released (and open-sourced) a significantly more powerful PowerShell plugin for VS Code today[1][2] as well as a set of .NET and JSON APIs, the PowerShell Editor Services[3], that sits behind it. We welcome contributions and feedback, and feel free to hit up the developer David Wilson, @daviwil, or me, @joeyaiello.

[1] http://blogs.msdn.com/b/powershell/archive/2015/11/17/announ...

[2] https://github.com/PowerShell/vscode-powershell

[3] http://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShellEditorServices

[+] JL2010|10 years ago|reply
Has anyone spent a lot of time with VS Code? I tried it a while back when it was first announced and have not found a reason to re-visit it yet. At the time it felt like a sublime-text alternative instead of an IDE (was it always positioned to be just an editor?) Always great to see more options though.
[+] mikestew|10 years ago|reply
No modal/vim mode? (The Googles indicate "no".) I want to love you, Visual Studio Code, but that's a deal-breaker. Looks like the plug-in system is up, so maybe it'll come down the road.

Though it's probably my color-blind eyes, but I couldn't find a stock dark theme that worked for me (first time I've had that out-of-the-box problem).

So between not being able to read the text on the screen that well, and an input model that doesn't fit well with what I'm used to, I guess I'll come back in six months. :-)

EDIT: and no Java syntax highlighting? I understand that it's a beta/WIP, but really? ObjC seems to work okay.

[+] bluejekyll|10 years ago|reply
This is pretty amazing from the company that was trying to kill Linux just a few years ago and is now adopting that mentality for developing and delivering software.

While I don't want to be negative; this and other recent moves by MS, seem to be an effort to lighten the overladen ship that is the MS super-tanker. Will moves like this prevent them from sinking? Personally, I switched away from MS products in 1996 and have never looked back, and this does make me wonder...

[+] ogig|10 years ago|reply
>TIME-SENSITIVE SOFTWARE. The software will stop running on 31/12/2016 (day/month/year). You will not receive any other notice. You may not be able to access data used with the software when it stops running.

What does this mean. Should I expect a working VCS instead of this one in 2017?

Is not a condition I like in the terms of my main tool.

[+] tapoxi|10 years ago|reply
As an Atom user that's only dabbled with VS Code when it was announced, what are its advantages? Last time I tried Code it seemed like a fork of Atom with Microsoft branding.
[+] afiedler|10 years ago|reply
One of the biggest advantages that I know of is that VSC has a very good NodeJS debugger for Javascript and Typescript[1]. Having the debugger integrated into the editor is huge improvement over Node Inspector. Last time I tried Atom's debuggers, they were not very good.

[1]: https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/editor/debugging

[+] lewisl9029|10 years ago|reply
Long time Atom user here as well.

When I first tried VS Code, the first thing that I noticed was how much better the performance was compared to Atom. From general snappiness of basic editing tasks to startup times to working with large files, VS Code simply outperformed Atom across the board according to my brief unscientific observations.

At the time, I ended up sticking with Atom mainly because VS Code wasn't open source and lacked extensions, but it looks like this release addresses both issues.

Well done, Microsoft. I'm definitely going to give VS Code another serious look and recommend other Atom users to do the same.

[+] edgyswingset|10 years ago|reply
There's other features, but the biggest for me is if you're writing TypeScript or C# you get first-class visual debugging support. Also the live Markdown Preview (cmd-shift-v) is pretty awesome.
[+] BruceM|10 years ago|reply
When writing extensions, you get full TypeScript typings for everything.
[+] ihsw|10 years ago|reply
You can set breakpoints for your NodeJS code, be it TypeScript or vanilla JavaScript.
[+] royka118|10 years ago|reply
I tried it out but too but Atom pulled me back because of its plugins and linters
[+] devy|10 years ago|reply
Unsurprisingly, Visual Studio Code is mostly (62% at the moment) written in TypeScript!
[+] tonyarkles|10 years ago|reply
Pretty cool! I've been using it a bit on the days where I have to do stuff on Windows, mostly for hacking on C++ code and playing with GL shaders (the code is cross-platform with CMake, so I don't really need Visual Studio).

I've had a few ideas about little things to add to it, and having it open source makes that a possibility!

[+] guiomie|10 years ago|reply
I've been using VSC for a few months now for side projects and I really like it. I've ditched notpad++ for it without any regrets. I'm not a fan of using my full blown VS2015 either for nodejs/web projects. Glad to see support for nodejs debugging this will be useful.
[+] giancarlostoro|10 years ago|reply
The only thing I wish VS Code had is "Compiling" out of the box. I know you guys want to make an amazing experience for each language, but one of my favorite editors is Geany because no matter the language or platform when I hit build / compile it usually just works. Hoping now that it's gone open source we will see minor changes like compiling / building cross platform at least. Other than that it's a great editor, definitely simple enough and wonderful to work with.
[+] datashovel|10 years ago|reply
What I find quite odd is Microsoft rarely seems to show up on front page of HN, then all of a sudden in concert all of the top links on front page are Microsoft related.

It's not that they're not doing good things to help fix their culture, but I find it almost annoying. It seems almost impossible to me that all this promotion is not coming from them directly..

[+] ziahamza|10 years ago|reply
The project has come a long way,since the early days of the Monaco code editor. Really happy seeing it finally come to the open!! :D