VS Code and Me

When I began coding, I utilized the Eclipse IDE for the Java projects. A novice who knew virtually nothing about the different languages or frameworks out there, I didn’t even know the difference between and IDE and a plain text editor like Visual Studio Code.

I could utilize Eclipse well enough to complete my projects, but felt daunted by all of the different tools available and could quite easily run into trouble if I clicked the wrong button. Understand as well that at this point I didn’t even know what a terminal was, let alone its function (I’m always fascinating by the nature of computer science in how segmented the knowledge is, and how one can create a strong product without knowledge of something as basic as a terminal or Git).

Now that I’m a Big Adult Coder, Visual Studio Code has become my tool of choice. I’ve tried Atom and IntelliJ, but ultimately there isn’t much use in switching when you know what works (and what has the largest expansion base).

And its these expansions that can help my coding go all that smoother! Here are some of my favorites:

Dash

Dash is an API Documentation Browser and Code Snippet Manager. Essentially you can highlight an element of your code and quickly bring up the relevant documentation instead of having to head over to google. In addition you can program in handy shortcuts for code (particularly handy for React) or even helpful links (I have my LinkedIn, Github, and website all programmed).

Live Server

This fun little tool makes editing an html page a bit easier, as updates to your page will reflect live instead of requiring a refresh. This makes experimentation must less annoying as you can quickly correct and edit.

Path IntelliSense

VS Code preprograms IntelliCode, so I’m not sure why they don’t do it for this either. It utilizes machine learning to autocomplete filenames (which I HATE trying to figure out).

Rainbow Brackets

I despite leering at my code trying to figure out which bracket goes where. This distinguishes them by color to allow you to make sure everything’s in order.