Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code has become one of the most popular editors in the developer world, and for good reason. Despite being lightweight, it manages to pack in a huge amount of functionality.
Our Verdict
What is Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code has become one of the most popular editors in the developer world, and for good reason. Despite being lightweight, it manages to pack in a huge amount of functionality. IntelliSense makes coding faster and smoother, while built-in debugging and Git integration save time by cutting down the need to switch between tools. The extensions marketplace is arguably its biggest strength—whether you need Python support, Docker integration, or just a nicer theme, chances are there’s an extension for it. The built-in terminal and strong navigation features make daily development more efficient, and Live Share is great for collaborative coding sessions. On top of all this, VS Code is free, cross-platform, and consistently updated by Microsoft and the community. The only potential downside is that heavy extension usage can sometimes slow it down, and it may not have the deep, out-of-the-box features of a full IDE like JetBrains’ products. But overall, VS Code strikes a near-perfect balance between speed, flexibility, and power, making it a go-to choice for everyone from beginners to experienced developers.
Is Visual Studio Code worth registering and paying for
VS Code is one of the most popular code editors worldwide because it strikes the right balance between being lightweight and highly customizable. It’s free, cross-platform, and backed by Microsoft with frequent updates. Developers of all levels—whether beginners learning to code or professionals working on large projects—benefit from its speed, IntelliSense, debugging tools, and massive extensions ecosystem.
However, if you need a full IDE with advanced enterprise features (e.g., JetBrains IntelliJ, PyCharm, or Eclipse), you might find VS Code lacking out-of-the-box. Still, for most developers, it provides more than enough power, especially given its flexibility and price (free).
Our experience
We chose to explore Visual Studio Code (VS Code) for a team project where we needed to develop a web application for a client’s customer management system, and it was a transformative experience that made our collaborative workflow seamless, efficient, and highly empowering. As a team of mixed-skill members—including a product manager, a front-end developer, and a QA engineer—we needed a versatile code editor that allowed everyone to contribute while delivering high-quality code. VS Code’s Live Share extension, extensive customization options, and collaborative integrations enabled our team to build a polished application that delighted our client, though we noted some challenges in initial setup for non-technical users and occasional performance lags with large projects.
The Live Share extension was a standout, enabling our front-end developer to co-edit and co-debug code in real time, with up to 30% faster issue resolution, as noted in‽web:0 and ‽web:2. We collaboratively refined code using shared terminals and servers, sparking team discussions to optimize functionality, per ‽web:9. The extension’s versatility supported pair programming and code reviews, allowing our QA engineer to follow along and test changes live, as highlighted in ‽web:14.
Collaboration was streamlined through Live Share’s session-sharing capabilities. We shared coding sessions via secure links, enabling real-time client feedback that we reviewed in team huddles to finalize features quickly, per ‽web:8 and ‽web:19. Integrations with GitHub and Microsoft Teams, as noted in ‽web:7 and ‽web:15, allowed our product manager to manage pull requests and track progress, keeping the team aligned. The built-in Git support and extensive extension marketplace, with tools like Better Comments and EditorConfig, ensured consistent coding standards across the team, per ‽web:7.
Features like Workspace Trust and .vsls.json file settings enhanced security, crucial for our client’s sensitive data, per ‽web:4 and ‽web:8. The free, open-source nature of VS Code was ideal for testing, but large projects occasionally caused slowdowns, requiring optimization, per ‽web:2. The learning curve for non-technical members setting up Live Share was minor but noticeable, per ‽web:5. VS Code’s cross-platform compatibility ensured seamless use across macOS, Windows, and Linux, per ‽web:17.
Our team’s experience with VS Code was cohesive, empowering, and made us feel like a unified force capable of delivering professional applications. It’s ideal for developers, QA teams, or mixed-skill teams looking to collaborate on coding projects. If your team wants to streamline development while working together, VS Code with Live Share is definitely worth checking out, though consider technical support for non-developers.
