Introduction

Do you want to get the most out of your Visual Studio Code (VS Code) editor? Then you need to make sure that you have the best and most popular VS Code extensions installed. From debugging tools to productivity-enhancing add-ons, these extensions are designed to help you get the most out of your development environment.

Original source of this article can be found here.

What is VS-CODE

VS Code (Visual Studio Code) is an open source code editor from Microsoft. It is a lightweight yet powerful source code editor that runs on your desktop and is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It comes with built-in support for JavaScript, TypeScript, and Node.js and has a rich ecosystem of extensions for other languages (such as C++, C#, Python, PHP, Go) and runtimes (such as .NET and Unity). With VS Code, you can develop modern web and cloud applications, write code more efficiently, and perform powerful debugging.

In this blog post, we'll be taking a look at the top 10 popular VS-Code extensions and what they can do to help you with your coding. We'll also discuss why they are so popular and how they can help make coding easier and faster. So let's get started!

Live Share 🔗

The Live Share extension for Visual Studio Code enables developers to collaboratively edit and debug code in real-time. It allows two or more developers to work together in the same workspace, regardless of geographic location. Live Share provides a variety of features, including multi-user editing and debugging, advanced text editing capabilities, and the ability to share terminal sessions.

Teams can also share localhost servers, and local Git repositories, and take advantage of the advanced collaboration features such as the ability to share their audio, video, and text chat. With Live Share, developers can quickly and easily share their development environment, making it easy to collaborate on code in real time.

GitLens — Git supercharged 🔗

GitLens is a Visual Studio Code extension that supercharges the Git capabilities built into Visual Studio Code. It helps you to visualize code authorship at a glance via Git blame annotations and code lens, seamlessly navigate and explore Git repositories, gain valuable insights via powerful comparison commands, and so much more.

GitLens simply helps you better understand code. It enhances the existing features of the built-in Git capabilities of Visual Studio Code, and adds additional features that make it easier to understand the history of a codebase. By providing an intuitive and interactive visual interface, GitLens simplifies the process of exploring, understanding, and navigating large and complex codebases.

ESLint 🔗

ESLint is a popular open-source extension for Visual Studio Code that helps developers identify and fix coding errors and potential problems in their code. It provides a range of features including linting, code autofixing, and formatting.

ESLint helps developers write cleaner code by highlighting common mistakes and potential problems, thus reducing the time spent debugging and refactoring code. Additionally, ESLint can be configured to use specific coding standards and styles, making it a useful tool for teams working on large projects.

Prettier - Code formatter 🔗

Prettier is a code formatting extension for VS Code that formats code according to a set of predefined rules. It enforces consistent coding styles across different coding languages and makes code more readable.

With Prettier, developers don't have to worry about manually formatting their code as it will do the job automatically. Prettier also supports configurable rules, so developers can customize their coding style.

Python 🔗

The Python extension for Visual Studio Code is an extremely powerful and popular extension for the editor. It provides a wide range of features for developing Python applications, including linting, debugging, IntelliSense code completion, code formatting, refactoring, unit testing, and debugging.

It also includes support for virtual environments, project and folder management, and the ability to install additional packages. The extension is completely open source and actively maintained, and is available for all major platforms.

Material Icon Theme🔗

Material Icon Theme is a popular Visual Studio Code (VS Code) extension that adds high-quality icons to your project. It provides a consistent set of icons that can be used across different projects and platforms.

It is based on the Google Material Design icon set and provides a range of icons for different file types and languages. It makes it easier to identify and differentiate files and folders in your project, and makes your code look more professional.

Bracket Pair Colorizer 2 🔗

The Bracket Pair Colorizer 2 extension is a free extension for Visual Studio Code that helps to make it easier to read and understand code, especially code with nested brackets. It adds color to matching brackets, as well as indent guides, so that you can easily identify which bracket belongs to which block of code.

It also supports a variety of languages, including HTML, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, and more. In addition, it can be customized to suit your preferences, allowing you to choose the colors and styles of the brackets, as well as the indent guides.

PowerShell 🔗

PowerShell is a powerful scripting language and command-line shell developed by Microsoft. The VS Code PowerShell extension provides rich language support and capabilities such as completions, definition tracking, and linting analysis for PowerShell versions 3 and up.

It also provides syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, and debugging support for PowerShell script files. This extension makes it easier for developers and system administrators to develop, test, and deploy PowerShell scripts for common tasks.

Live Server 🔗

Live Server is a Visual Studio Code extension that allows developers to launch a local development server with live reload feature for static and dynamic pages. It works by launching a light-weight development server and watching for file changes in the workspace.

When a change is detected, the server will automatically reload the page in the browser. This is especially useful for web development and testing, as it allows developers to quickly test and make changes to their code without having to manually reload the page.

Quokka.js 🔗

Quokka.js is a Visual Studio Code extension designed to help developers quickly and easily test their JavaScript code. With Quokka.js, developers can evaluate code directly in the editor, without having to switch to the browser or a terminal.

It also offers a number of features, such as live reloading, instant feedback, and integrated debugging. Quokka.js is a great tool for accelerating development workflow, and can be used with any JavaScript framework, library, or package.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the top 10 popular VS-Code extensions are a great way to improve your coding experience. From Emmet for faster HTML and CSS writing to GitLens for easy version control, there is something for everyone.

The extension marketplace is constantly growing, so you can easily find the perfect tools for your project. Thanks to VS-Code’s wide range of customization options, you can tailor your workspace to your individual needs. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, the top 10 popular VS-Code extensions are sure to give you a great coding experience.