Back in 2021, right around the time when Windows 11 started becoming a real thing, Microsoft introduced GitHub Copilot as an extension for Visual Studio Code (VS Code). Over time, GitHub Copilot for the VS Code code editor has received updates and gotten better. In March this year, with Visual Studio 17.10 – Preview 2 update, several more improvements were made that were meant to increase developer productivity.
Today, at Build 2024, Microsoft announced that GitHub Copilot is now out of preview and is generally available (GA). Hence, while it was available as an extension in the past, GitHub Copilot will now be an integral part of the IDE (integrated development environment).
Speaking of IDE, the new VS Code update gets a JSON-based settings UI (user interface) that is meant to simplify IDE customization. Other improvements include AI-powered code reviews and better debugging and diagnostics support, which essentially aims to either make fewer errors or resolve code issues quicker, as well as improve app performance and optimization.
If you are wondering how that is possible with the new update, the new GitHub Copilot-powered VS Code brings an "improved Attach to Process dialog" to aid in the debugging process. Microsoft also mentions VS Code's Conditional Breakpoints feature, which allows developers to set conditions based on expressions, hit counts, or both.
VS Code 17.10 update also brings enhancements related to coding for game development. These include the ability to pin Targets in the case of CMake projects and updated Unreal Engine (UE) macros. If you are wondering, macros in UE help to add metadata to a game's element.
Game development is not the only area of improvement with the release. There are updates for Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 development, as well as performance upgrades for Windows Forms (WinForms) designer.
Finally, Visual Studio for Arm64 now has support for SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT). You can find the official announcement here.
1 Comment - Add comment