
Visual Studio Code April 2017 - kwood
https://code.visualstudio.com/updates/v1_12
======
chillee
Since it first popped up on my radar last summer, VSCode has quickly become my
favorite editor. A combination of great features that are a pain/poorly done
in other editors (intellisense for many languages, a proper debugger, an
integrated terminal that's just as fast as my actual terminal (I've actually
gotten into the workflow of opening up huge files in vim in the integrated
terminal), etc.) make VSCode amazing.

Especially when you compare the rate of improvement of VSCode to Sublime or
Atom, VSCode is on an upwards track, and they've clearly captured major
mindshare. ([https://stackoverflow.com/insights/survey/2017#technology-
mo...](https://stackoverflow.com/insights/survey/2017#technology-most-popular-
developer-environments-by-occupation))

In addition, VSCodeVim is among the best in terms of vim plugins that I've
used (VSVim is still better), and I thought it was amazing that Microsoft
assigned an official employee to work on it.

Disclaimer: I have contributed code to the VSCodeVim extension, but that was
because I liked the plugin so much (that, and there was a bug that really
bothered me).

~~~
infogulch
I've contributed to VSCodeVim as well (remember way back when undoing a long
insert would delete each character one at a time? I fixed that!) it's actually
pretty approachable and nice to contribute to.

------
beagle3
Just a small reminder to privacy conscious people: VSCode comes with telemetry
on by default[0], and you might like to turn it off. Also, the fact that you
turn it off gets reported to microsoft[1] (or at least did).

[0] [https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/faq#_how-to-
di...](https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/supporting/faq#_how-to-disable-
telemetry-reporting)

[1] [http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40451596/visual-studio-
co...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/40451596/visual-studio-code-still-
accessing-internet-after-update-and-telemetry-was-disab)

------
eric_b
This is how you write release notes. This is the only project where I
routinely read the release notes "cover to cover" every month. Great job!

~~~
beagle3
I agree that this is an excellent way to write release notes; The only project
that does better in my opinion is Dolphin: [https://dolphin-
emu.org/blog/](https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/)

------
Joeri
VS code is improving faster than any other IDE / programmer's editor. I wonder
what sort of team size is behind it, and how long microsoft will keep funding
that team on something that doesn't earn them any money. I also wonder what
the end game is with respect to the regular visual studio, because as VS code
picks up plugins and features it is covering more and more of the IDE feature
space, and eventually the difference is going to come down to how it feels to
use, not what it can do.

~~~
Clubber
VS code is a snack for Linux and Mac developers. It is intended to lure those
people to the Microsoft (and Azure) platform. They are able to do it so well,
so quickly because Windows Visual Studio has much of that functionality
already in it.

I suspect VSCode, just like NETCore will become their standard. I'm sure they
have a path to switchover. They are banking on Azure now, so anything that
pulls people to Azure is what they are investing in.

The biggest difference I can see between the Gates/Balmer era and the Nadella
era is Gates/Balmer refused to do anything that would in any way endanger
their Windows platform. This made them a ton of money for many years, but
stole from their future as Linux took over the server side.

~~~
ppog
"They are able to do it so well, so quickly because Windows Visual Studio has
much of that functionality already in it." I don't believe anything is shared
between Visual Studio and VS Code except the branding (Microsoft playing to
their traditional strengths in confusing marketing). Where I do agree is that
VS Code drew on a lot of the institutional expertise and design learning from
the folks who develop Visual Studio and Visual Studio Online. Perhaps also
there are shared editor components across VS Code and VS Online, I'm not sure
- but again this is _not_ the same editor as Visual Studio's (again with the
confusing branding).

(Disclosure: I work for Microsoft, but not on VS, VS Code, VS Online or VS
Floor Wax.)

~~~
Clubber
I didn't mean to imply the code was the same or the editor was the same, but
that the VSCode team have access to the original source code for all the
compiler and intellisense algorithms that were already written, tuned and
figured out.

------
codegeek
vscode just keeps winning. Who cares if it is written in electron (we love to
hate electron). Cross Platform, 100% FREE. Open Source and so much support.
Tons of good plugins already. Keep up the good work vscode team!!

~~~
Analemma_
It's a good example of how Electron is no excuse for sluggish apps: VSC is
very snappy until you start getting really huge files. Don't blame the runtime
for your crappy code!

~~~
IshKebab
That logic doesn't really follow. I remember reading that the VSC people put a
lot of work into making sure it is still fast despite Electron.

Not everyone can do that, so it would be better if the framework was 'fast by
default'.

------
kwood
A good decision to focus on closing issues and doing more polish for the past
month. The project moves fast, so taking a step back is really appreciated -
before it gets out of control (as in: too buggy)

------
koolba
I've been running Linux as my primary desktop OS for a bit over two decades.
If you told me five years ago that the majority of my daily coding would take
place in an editor written by Microsoft I'd have thought you were crazy.

VS Code is an awesome editor and is improving at an equally awesome pace.
Kudos to Microsoft and the team behind it.

~~~
guiambros
Same here. I'm still shocked that my go-to IDE _on Linux_ is something created
_by Microsoft_ , debugging languages they have nothing to do (Python), and
distributed for free.

Great way to win back share of mind of developers.

Smart, Microsoft.

------
nicpottier
We've been using VSCode for some Go programming lately and I have to say I'm
super impressed. Way faster than GogLand and I love that it is Open Source.
Seriously great.

------
mattbierner
Just published VS Code 1.12.1 to fix an issue with .NET debugging:
[https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/25918](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/25918)

------
shock
>Search in Keyboard Shortcuts editor is improved to support all possible terms
for modifier keys in corresponding platforms. meta, cmd, command, windows
ctrl, control alt, option shift

Except `super` :)

------
msoad
VSCode is really popular! I wrote a very dumb extension for my own use and
published it so I have access to it when I want it. Just checked and saw it
has more than 100k downloads!

------
anderber
Really happy about the workbench theming. VSCode continues to put out great
releases.

------
bsharitt
I tried to like Atom for a long time, but it was always just so sluggish.
VSCode seems a lot faster and I keep finding my self going back and forth
between it and vim.

~~~
rawland
Same here.

There is an OpenVim Plugin to CtrlP into gvim.

    
    
      :! code %
    

When I spawned vim first.

------
remyp
I love VS Code, but is anyone else getting a lot of flickering/redraws
(particularly around the cursor) on OSX since the update?

~~~
mattbierner
Hmm, I haven't this on 10.11 or 10.12. Can you please file a bug with some
screenshots/captures so that we can investigate:
[https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/new](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/new)

~~~
remyp
No problem, here ya go:
[https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/25934](https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/issues/25934)

Thanks for everything you do!

------
arvinsim
The most interesting part for me here is type checking for plain JS files. I
love that they can inferred using JS Docs.

It let's me try out the benefits of type checking without having to setup
TypeScript.

------
ArloL
Anybody else experiencing problems in Safari 10.1?
[http://imgur.com/deflq41](http://imgur.com/deflq41)

~~~
extra88
Not me (on Sierra 10.12.4).

~~~
ArloL
Thanks for the reply. It actually happened again on another site. Just started
experiencing it there. Restarted browser. No problems. _shrug_ Thanks again.

------
moondev
I love the native osx tabs for multiple windows, but I hate the color and size
they are. Guess there's nothing that can be done about that though.

------
dinnouti
I wish it had the same support for PowerShell as it has for nodejs.

------
valuearb
Won't run on MacOS Sierra

~~~
baumandm
I'm running MacOS Sierra and upgraded today, no issues so far.

~~~
valuearb
It's supposed to be an archive when I download it, but it's an application.
When I double click it I get "The application “Visual Studio Code” can’t be
opened.".

It won't open in Archive Utility because it's an app. I can run Electron from
within it's package, and it opens VS Code, but that seems janky.

~~~
valuearb
Reboot and it works.

