Why I love Visual Studio Code
Programming can be done in so many different ways. Some people code in the command line. Some people use code editors like Atom or Sublime Text which gives people some additional guidance. Others use full blown IDEs such as IntelliJ IDE or PyCharm just to name a couple (shoutout to the people over at Atlassian).
See here’s the thing. I’ve used all of those tools and they work fine for most people. But not me. Coding on the command line sucks because you don’t know what errors you have in your code until you compile it. Coding with Sublime Text sucks because you have to pay $80 per license to get the full functionality or suffer through Sublime reminding you EVERY TIME you open it that you are using an “unregistered version”. No. None of that. VSCode is the option for me.
But why?
🧰 It’s highly configurable
Unlike other text editors that only offer simple themes, VSCode offers a tremendous extensions library that allows users to code in any language or using any specific feature. The editor itself is open sourced 😍 so anyone can tinker with it. I also have it configured to use my terminal to compile Java code, so I don’t have to jump through hoops when I need to include console input, for example.
🤑 It’s free and always will be
Most if not all of the other options require you to pay in full to get all of the functionality out of the editor. But alas, with VSCode all of your worries are gone. Thanks Microsoft!
🏠 Simplicity
The app runs quickly and smoothly on my measly 2014 MacBook Air (I wouldn’t use it if the keyboard wasn’t so darn awesome). The code compiles and runs quickly which helps to speed up productivity.
Oh and also, don’t forget about that command pallete!
