Visual Studio Code reaches 1.0

Microsoft knows how to keep eager developers waiting and waiting. For approximately one year, the company has kept its cross-platform text editor for developers in beta.

That all changed now that Microsoft has released version 1.0 of Visual Studio Code. In spite of the long delay, the text editor has already proven popular with developers. According to Microsoft’s own figures, two million developers have installed VSC, another half-million developers have been regularly using it every month.

What makes VSC so significant—in fact, what garnered it attention last year—is the unprecedented nature of Microsoft releasing a code editor for both Linux and OSX. Further, releasing this under the Visual Studio brand is, in and of itself, surprising.

Two major issues plagued the platform when Microsoft first launched it. Initially, the code for VS Code was not open source, and there was no extensibility. Both problems have been fixed by the company in time for the 1.0 release.

A lot has happened to make the 1.0 release a reality. In the months leading up to the release, Microsoft has been working with the VSC community to do more than improve features. Stability and performance have both been improved, with hundreds of bugs being addressed, and the entire editing process has been smoothed out. Further, in about half a year, more than 1000 extensions have been created by the community. These support nearly any runtime and language within VS Code. This is impressive when you consider that VS Code was originally created to help developers who were building web apps with TypeScript and JavaScript; you’ll now find it easier to write applications in PHP, Python, Node.js, C++, Go, and many more.

The result of this progress has been huge. Currently, everyone from mere startups to big Fortune 500 companies are more efficient with an editor that integrates well into their present tool chain as well as work flow. As a result, Microsoft has declared its VSC API stable, and is guaranteeing compatibility moving ahead.

Because of the worldwide community behind this release, it’s no surprise that 1.0 is also localizable, making it an accessible tool for every developer. It ships in nine languages including Chinese, German, French, and Japanese. Microsoft also open-sourced this application, making it available on GitHub only a few months after the initial release last year.

Great things look to be ahead in the future for VSC, too. The company has pledged full support to this platform, promising to invest in bettering developer productivity that’s influenced by feedback from the community. Working hand-in-hand with both the community and partners is essential to Microsoft’s plans to keep increasing support for additional languages in the platform. The developer community can expect exciting things through its collaboration with Microsoft.

Interested developers can download the new 1.0 release right here.

Marc Schenker

Marc’s a copywriter who covers design news for Web Designer Depot. Find out more about him at thegloriouscompanyltd.com.