Visual Studio Code has been updated with the addition of a Command Center and a private preview of a server that runs as a service that lets you connect to remote development machines.

Visual Studio Code is Microsoft's open source code editor that shares part of its name, but not much else, with full Visual Studio. It is open source under a MIT license and development is conducted on GitHub. It is completely free of charge and over recent years it has become the preferred IDE across all developers, with almost three quarters of respondents to the 2021 Stack Overflow Survey using it regularly and wanting to continue using it. 

The updated version of Visual Studio Code adds a number of improvements, starting with a three-way merge editor designed to help developers resolve merge conflicts within VS Code.

The new Command Center UI can be used to search files, run commands, and navigate cursor history. The debugging features now let you step directly into functions when paused, and there's a new option for JavaScript sourcemap toggling that lets you switch to debugging compiled rather than source code.

Other improvements include a Do Not Disturb mode that silences non-critical notification popups; and a new Git Commit action button. There's also a new option to toggle between light and dark themes. 

The new Visual Studio Code Server is a service you can run on a remote development machine. The service lets you securely connect to a remote machine from anywhere through a vscode.dev URL, without the requirement of SSH.

The service is built on the same underlying server used by existing VS Code Remote Development extensions, but comes with additional features including an interactive CLI and ways to make secure connections to vscode.dev.

The VS Code Server is currently a private preview, in which the code-server CLI is distinct from the code CLI currently used in desktop VS Code. The plan is to eventually have a fully unified code CLI that lets you manage both the desktop and the server.

Visual Studio Code is available now.

• As well as being editor-in-chief of IProgrammer, Mike James is also a prolific author. VS Code is now his preferred code editor and is used throughout his two most recent titles in the Programmer's Python: Something Completely Different series, see sidebar.

More Information

VS Code Dev Website

Visual Studio Code Website

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