As our society becomes increasingly more and more tied to our computers, phones, and tablets, we are discovering the necessity of not just using websites, programs, and apps but to create them.
Whether your business is technology-based or you need an app that no one has created yet, the ability to develop the code for you or your business’ unique purposes is becoming crucial to businesses everywhere.
To develop apps, however, you need a program that will allow you to efficiently write and edit code.
Enter Microsoft Visual Studio, which is just such a program.
Microsoft Visual Studio Capabilities
Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment. Essentially, it is a program that allows you to develop, write, and edit code.
Visual Studio does more than most by allowing you to use almost any coding language. Among others, these include:
- C, C++, C++/CLI
- .NET
- JavaScript
- TypeScript
- XML
- XSLT
- HTML
- CSS
Others, such as Python, Ruby, Node.js, and N, are available through plug-ins.
This nearly comprehensive list means you have a wide range of options. Microsoft Visual Studio aims to be complete and comprehensive for all of your coding needs.
To do so, it works with you on four levels: Development, debugging, testing, and collaborating.
Development
- Visual Studio offers guidance and assistance as you code, no matter your language.
- IntelliSense describes APIS as you type and uses auto-completion to speed up your coding
- The program keeps track of where you are in your coding, even as you search for other parts of the code
- The Find All References feature lets you group, filter, and search within your results
- Code Lens allows you to understand the call structure of your code and navigate to related functions, while also letting you know who last edited the code
- Light bulb icons let you know when you need to fix a common coding mistake, even as you’re typing the code for the first time
- The Error List condenses all your coding issues into one space, so you can easily resolve all issues
- Code Link can search for potential solutions to difficult issues
- Visual Studios does all the major refactoring work for you as your project develops
Debugging
- Debugging works even if you are coding in multiple languages
- You can debug no matter where your code runs (Windows apps, Android, Azure, iOS, etc.)
- Visual Studio offers you complete control over your debugging and allows you to choose where you want to pause the threads and inspect code
- The program also offers you flexibility in inspecting the code, giving you the ability to look through variables and complex expressions anywhere in the code
- You can get notifications when exceptions occur
- The program allows you to inspect code across multiple threads with ease
- PerfTips and diagnostics tools allow you to find out more about your code’s performance and memory characteristics
Testing
- Visual Studio provides a large number of templates and frameworks so you can write, execute, and debug unit tests
- IntelliTest reduces the effort required to create and maintain unit tests
- Live unit testing allows you to make sure your changes don’t break tests
- UI testing allows you to drive your application through the user interface
- On a grand scale, you can test your code for hundreds of thousands of concurrent users from all over the world
- You can see test results even while you organize, run, and debug your test. You can automatically run tests after every build
Collaborating
- Visual Studio allows you to track changes made to the code and highlight them
- Integration with other popular IDEs means you can work with your team across all platforms
- Visualization options help you keep track of changes across branches
- Granular permissions allow you to control access to code and keep it secure
- The Active Directory makes it easy to keep track of people and permissions
- The customized dashboard makes it easy to keep up with your team and recent changes
- The Extensions Marketplace helps you find more extensions for further integration
- Semantic Code Search lets you search through code fast
Different Versions of Microsoft Visual Studio
Microsoft Visual Studio comes in several different versions with different features. Be sure that the version you purchase has all the features you need in order to ensure the best fit for you and your business.
Community: This is a stripped-down version of Visual Studio meant for students, amateurs, and small businesses. It replaced Microsoft Visual Studio Express (which is still available, but has been downgraded in priority by Microsoft and will not update again). Community supports many languages, and it comes free of charge.
Professional: This provides all the same features as Community, but crucially it also allows you to write code for Enterprise organizations (those with more than 250 PCs in use). If you are working with a large company, Professional is a minimum requirement. It also works with more code languages and has several other useful features.
Enterprise: This version provides you with many of the more advanced testings and debugging tools mentioned above. It also enables you to do cross-platform development.
Where to download Microsoft Visual Studio
To download any version of Microsoft Visual Studio, you can go to the official site at www.visualstudio.com.
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