Developer(s) Microsoft Development status Active | Preview release 1.11.0 [±] | |
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Initial release April 29, 2015; 22 months ago (2015-04-29) Stable release 1.10.2 (8 March 2017; 22 days ago (2017-03-08)) [±] Repository github.com/Microsoft/vscode | ||
Visual Studio Code is a source code editor developed by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS. It includes support for debugging, embedded Git control, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, and code refactoring. It is also customizable, so users can change the editor's theme, keyboard shortcuts, and preferences. It is free and open-source, although the official download is under a proprietary license.
Contents
Visual Studio Code is based on Electron, a framework which is used to deploy Node.js applications for the desktop running on the Blink layout engine. Although it uses the Electron framework, the software does not use Atom and instead employs the same editor component (codenamed "Monaco") used in Visual Studio Team Services (formerly called Visual Studio Online).
History
Visual Studio Code was announced on April 29, 2015 by Microsoft at the 2015 Build conference. A Preview build was released shortly.
On November 18, 2015, Visual Studio Code was released under the MIT License and its source code posted to GitHub. Extension support was also announced.
On April 14, 2016, Visual Studio Code graduated the public preview stage and was released to web.
Features
Visual Studio Code is a source code editor. It supports a number of programming languages and a set of features that may or may not be available for a given language, as shown in the following table. Many of Visual Studio Code features are not exposed through menus or the user interface. Rather, they are accessed via the command palette or via a .json file (e.g., user preferences). The command palette is a command-line interface. However, it disappears if the user clicks anywhere outside it or presses a key combination on the keyboard to interact with something outside it. This is true for time-taking commands as well. When this happens, the command in progress is cancelled.
In the role of a source code editor, Visual Studio Code allows changing the code page in which the active document is saved, the character that identifies line break (a choice between CR and CRLF), and the programming language of the active document.
Visual Studio Code can be extended via plug-ins, available through a central repository. This includes additions to the editor and language support. A notable feature is the ability to create extensions that analyze code, such as linters and tools for static analysis, using the Language Server Protocol.
Data collection
Visual Studio Code collects usage data and sends it to Microsoft, although this telemetry reporting can be disabled. The data is shared among Microsoft-controlled affiliates and subsidiaries and with law enforcement per the privacy statement.