Table of Contents for
Visual Studio Code Distilled: Evolved Code Editing for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Version ebook / Retour

Cover image for bash Cookbook, 2nd Edition Visual Studio Code Distilled: Evolved Code Editing for Windows, macOS, and Linux by Alessandro Del Sole Published by Apress, 2018
  1. Navigation
  2. Cover
  3. Front Matter
  4. 1. Introducing Visual Studio Code
  5. 2. Getting to Know the Environment
  6. 3. Language Support and Code Editing Features
  7. 4. Working with Files and Folders
  8. 5. Customizing Visual Studio Code
  9. 6. Installing and Managing Extensions
  10. 7. Source Control with Git
  11. 8. Automating Tasks
  12. 9. Running and Debugging Code
  13. Back Matter
Alessandro Del Sole
Visual Studio Code DistilledEvolved Code Editing for Windows, macOS, and Linux
Alessandro Del Sole
Cremona, Italy
ISBN 978-1-4842-4223-0e-ISBN 978-1-4842-4224-7
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-4224-7
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018965198
© Alessandro Del Sole 2019
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights.
While the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication, neither the authors nor the editors nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.
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To Angelica, the love of my life.

Introduction

One of the most common requirements in software development today is building applications and services that run on multiple systems and devices, especially with the continued expansion of cloud and artificial intelligence services.

Developers have many options to build cross-platform and cross-device software, from languages to development platforms and tools. However, in most cases such tools rely on proprietary systems, therefore creating strong dependencies. Moreover, most development tools target specific platforms and development scenarios. Microsoft Visual Studio Code makes a step forward, by providing a fully featured development environment for Windows, macOS, and Linux that not only offers advanced coding features but also integrated tools that span across the entire application lifecycle from coding to debugging to team collaboration. In this book, developers with any skill will learn how to leverage Visual Studio Code to target scenarios such as web, cloud, and mobile development with the programming language of their choice, providing guidance to build apps for any system and any device.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Joan Murray, Jill Balzano, Laura Berendson and to everyone at Apress for the opportunity and the great teamwork on this book.

Special thanks to the technical editor, Dr. James McCaffrey, who contributed to the quality and accuracy of the contents.

Special thanks to my girlfriend Angelica, who understands and never complains about the time I spend on writing books.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1:​ Introducing Visual Studio Code 1
Introducing Visual Studio Code 2
When and Why Visual Studio Code 3
Installing and Configuring Visual Studio Code 5
Installing Visual Studio Code on Windows 6
Installing Visual Studio Code on macOS 9
Installing Visual Studio Code on Linux 10
Localization Support 12
Updating Visual Studio Code 13
Previewing Features with Insiders Builds 15
Summary 17
Chapter 2:​ Getting to Know the Environment 19
The Welcome Page 20
The Code Editor 21
Reordering, Resizing, and Zooming Editor Windows 22
The Status Bar 23
The Activity Bar 24
The Side Bar 26
The Explorer Bar 26
The Search Tool 31
The Git Bar 32
The Debug Bar 34
The Extensions Bar 35
The Settings Button 36
Navigating Between Files 36
The Command Palette 37
The Panels Area 38
The Problems Panel 38
The Output Panel 40
The Debug Console Panel 41
Working with the Terminal 42
Summary 43
Chapter 3:​ Language Support and Code Editing Features 45
Language Support 46
Working with C# and C++ 47
Basic Code Editing Features 48
Working with Text 48
Syntax Colorization 49
Delimiter Matching and Text Selection 51
Code Block Folding 51
Multicursors 52
Reusable Code Snippets 52
Word Completion 54
Minimap Mode 55
Whitespace Rendering and Breadcrumbs 56
Markdown Preview 58
Evolved Code Editing 59
Working with IntelliSense 60
Parameter Hints 62
Inline Documentation with Tooltips 62
Go To Definition 63
Find All References 65
Peek Definition 66
Renaming Symbols and Identifiers 67
Live Code Analysis 68
Summary 76
Chapter 4:​ Working with Files and Folders 77
Visual Studio Code and Project Systems 77
Working with Individual Files 78
Creating Files 79
File Encoding, Line Terminators, and Line Browsing 80
Working with Folders and Projects 82
Opening a Folder 84
Opening .​NET Core Solutions 86
Opening JavaScript and TypeScript Projects 87
Opening Loose Folders 88
Working with Workspaces 89
Creating Workspaces 91
Opening Existing Workspaces 92
Workspace Structure 92
Summary 93
Chapter 5:​ Customizing Visual Studio Code 95
Customizations and Extensions Explained 95
Customizing Visual Studio Code 97
Theme Selection 97
Customizing the Environment 99
Customizing Key Bindings 106
Summary 110
Chapter 6:​ Installing and Managing Extensions 111
Installing Extensions 111
Extension Recommendations 115
Useful Extensions 117
Managing Extensions 118
Configuring Extensions 120
Hints About Extension Authoring 122
Summary 122
Chapter 7:​ Source Control with Git 125
Source Control in Visual Studio Code 125
Downloading Other Source Control Providers 126
Managing Repositories 127
Initializing a Local Git Repository 128
Creating a Remote Repository 130
Handling File Changes 132
Staging Changes 134
Managing Commits 135
Working with the Git Command Line Interface 137
Creating and Managing Branches 138
Switching to a Different Branch 140
Merging from a Branch 140
Deleting Branches 141
Adding Power to the Git Tooling with Extensions 142
Git History 142
GitLens 144
GitHub Pull Requests 148
Working with Azure DevOps and Team Foundation Server 150
Summary 154
Chapter 8:​ Automating Tasks 157
Understanding Tasks 158
Tasks Types 159
Running and Managing Tasks 159
The Default Build Task 164
Auto-Detected Tasks 164
Configuring Tasks 166
Running Files with a Default Program 188
Summary 189
Chapter 9:​ Running and Debugging Code 191
Creating Applications 191
Creating .​NET Core Projects 192
Creating Projects on Other Platforms 195
Debugging Your Code 196
Configuring the Debugger 198
Managing Breakpoints 202
Debugging an Application 203
Supporting Azure, Docker, and Artificial Intelligence 207
Summary 209
Index 211

About the Author

Alessandro Del Sole

is Senior Software Engineer for a healthcare company, building mobile apps for doctors and dialysis patients. He has been in the software industry for almost 20 years, focusing on Microsoft technologies such as .NET, C#, Visual Studio, and Xamarin. He has been a trainer, consultant, and a Microsoft MVP since 2008 and is the author of many technical books. He is a Xamarin Certified Mobile Developer, Microsoft Certified Professional, and a Microsoft Programming Specialist in C#.