Visual Studio Code 1.74
When it comes to open source development tools, the first thing you need is a programmer’s editor.
The Visual Studio Code project was originally started by Microsoft, a company not particularly renowned for its support of Linux. Rest assured that it was soon released under the MIT licence and is, today, a fully open source project, and one of which we’re huge fans.
You might notice that Visual Studio Code looks a bit different from other applications and lacks a native feel. That’s because it’s coded using a framework called Electron. This gives the developers complete control of the layout, even if it means that it doesn’t fit in with the overall style of the desktop it’s running on. Sometimes, apps programmed in this way can be sluggish, but we haven’t encountered any problems with it, and it’s surprisingly good on a resource-constrained device such as a Raspberry Pi.
The design of the user interface is conducive to mouse-free operation. For example, there’s a searchable pop-up command palette from which nearly every operation can be accessed.
The language support is exceptional. Name a programming language, and there’s almost bound to be a number of support plugins for it. These offer features such as syntax highlighting and command completion through a system called IntelliSense. This is the best in the business, and once you’ve worked with it, it’s hard to imagine going back to coding without, particularly regarding object-oriented programming.
The plugin system uses a built-in shop that features reviews and ratings. As often as not, there’s extensive information about a plugin, sometimes featuring graphical previews so you can get a true idea of what you’re getting into before you install it.
It’s primarily a programmer’s editor, but it works well as a system configuration file editor, too. You can launch it from the command line with code , and if it’s a configuration file that needs superuser privileges, it tells you when it’s time to save the file and gives you the option of entering the root password when needed.
Some might prefer to stick with traditional GUI text editors that use a native GUI toolkit, but if not, it’s a top-class application overall.