A comprehensive exploration of Visual Studio Code - from basic setup to advanced workflows, extensions, and customization.
VS Code became the dominant code editor by being good enough at everything. It's fast enough, extensible enough, and free. Microsoft built it on Electron, which was controversial but meant it runs everywhere. The extension ecosystem exploded. Now VS Code has over 70% market share. It won by not being terrible at anything.
IntelliSense is the autocomplete system that works. It uses language servers to provide smart completions, parameter hints, and inline documentation. For TypeScript, it's exceptional because VS Code and TypeScript are both Microsoft projects. The Git integration is built-in. The terminal is embedded, eliminating window switching.
Extensions make VS Code what it is. Language support for Python, Go, Rust, and everything else comes from extensions. Prettier and ESLint format and lint code automatically. GitLens shows inline Git blame. GitHub Copilot and Codeium provide AI-powered completion. The Remote extensions let you develop on remote servers, inside containers, or on WSL.
The Remote extensions deserve special mention. Remote-SSH connects to a server and runs VS Code's backend there. Remote-Containers runs your development environment in Docker. Remote-WSL lets Windows users develop in Linux without dual-booting. This architecture is clever because the UI runs locally, but heavy lifting happens where the code is.
Keybindings are critical for speed. Command Palette accesses everything. Quick Open jumps to files instantly. Multi-cursor editing selects the next instance of the current word. Column selection lets you edit multiple lines. Learning these shortcuts makes you faster.
Workspace settings override user settings for project-specific configurations. You can commit .vscode/settings.json so teams share config. Launch configurations define how to run or debug code. Tasks automate builds, tests, or linting. Snippets generate boilerplate.
Performance can suffer with too many extensions. Each extension impacts startup and memory. Disable unused extensions. For huge codebases, exclude folders from the file watcher. Multi-root workspaces split large monorepos.
VS Code vs JetBrains IDEs is about tradeoffs. JetBrains tools have deeper language analysis and better refactoring. They're heavier and cost money. VS Code is free, lighter, and more customizable. For Java or Kotlin, IntelliJ is better. For web development, VS Code is fine.
Vim users sometimes prefer the Vim extension or just use Neovim. Vim is faster on remote systems. But VS Code with the Vim extension gives you Vim motions with modern editor features. Neovim with LSP plugins can match VS Code but requires more configuration.
Customization goes deep. Themes change the look (Dracula, One Dark Pro, Monokai). Fonts with ligatures like Fira Code make code more readable. Icon themes improve file tree readability. You can inject custom CSS with extensions.
The settings.json file controls everything. Format on save, auto-save delay, tab size, line numbers, minimap visibility. You can configure linters, formatters, and type checkers per language. The JSON format is tedious but searchable.
VS Code in the browser (github.dev) is wild. Press . in any GitHub repo and you get a browser editor. It's great for quick edits or exploring code. GitHub Codespaces provides full development environments in the browser.
The open-source angle is complicated. The core is MIT-licensed, but Microsoft's binary has telemetry and proprietary bits. VSCodium is a community build without Microsoft's additions. Most people use Microsoft's build.
VS Code won because it's free, cross-platform, fast enough, and has an extension for everything. It's not perfect, but it's good enough.