Six New VS Code Features 💯
Millions of extensions on VS Code make the experience so much better!
Hi there!
Apologies for the fact that you received this letter a day late. Things have been quite busy lately.1
In the last few weeks, we learnt about large language models, how to fine-tune them, and easy ways to do the same. Last week, we ended the series with a discussion on multimodal models and their current state. In all use cases, we used Python for development. More specifically, we used VS Code as an IDE with conda to manage my environment.
Considering how much we use VS Code today, I think it will be worthwhile to go over a few interesting tidbits on how to best use it.
Use VS Code on Github Online
In a sneaky feature that’s highly under-advertised, you can use VS Code online in your browser on any Github repo. How? Press `.` (full stop / period) when you’re in a repo.
Collaborative Code With Friends
VS Code has the ability to share live coding sessions with friends. You can use this feature to collaborate together — just like Google Docs and Google Colab. It is also quite handy when you are doing a code explanation in groups. You and the viewer have more control than simply sharing screen on Zoom.
You can also share a Terminal together. That’s quite unique.
Terminal Inside VS Code
You can run multiple Terminal sessions from within VS Code. In your current window, press “Ctrl + `” (Mac or Windows). The best part is that you don’t need to change directory to the current directory, it starts there. If you only do this once in a while, it may not be a big thing. However, if you do it again and again, this 30 second work might quickly become a nuisance.
Github Copilot X
I have written about Github Copilot multiple times previously. GitHub Copilot X is expanding its capabilities to become a more comprehensive AI assistant for developers. New features include chat and voice interfaces that integrate natively with VS Code and Visual Studio, offering in-depth code analysis and bug-fix suggestions.
Currently, it can generate tests, fix bugs, and a lot more. It's also extending its reach to pull requests, where it can automatically generate descriptions and suggest tags, as well as warn developers about insufficient test coverage. It is free for students and educators.
In this example, I am first asking Copilot to explain my code. Then, I ask it to document it. Finally, I replace my code with its suggestion in a single click!
Breadcrumbs to Navigate
You can use the Breadcrumbs feature in VS Code to quickly jump between folders, files and even sections in code without ever leaving your current tab. To enable, select "Toggle Breadcrumbs" from the Command Palette.
Track Time with Wakatime
What gets measured gets managed.
— Peter Drucker
Wakatime is an extension that will track your coding time. Within VS Code, it will show the time you’ve spent in this session.
The online dashboard also shows how long you spend working in each file. The plugins automatically track the time spent programming and provide metrics and insights to improve productivity. The dashboard is private and the source code is never accessed. You can export your coding stats for free.
There’s also a MacOS menu bar app called Pandan that tracks how long have you been using your Mac continuously. I like such apps that put the control into my hands: instead of asking me to move every 20 mins, tell me you haven’t looked away for three hours and maybe its time you should.
More Features
VS Code has so many hidden features that there is a website: vscodecandothat.com
It is dedicated to such hidden features in the editor. Check it out!
Hope you found something new for your VS Code. See you next week!
— Harsh
Things have been quite busy lately. Since I started my third year of PhD, my research has picked up. I have to condense my work into a proposal defense soon, in addition to continuing new research work. Plus, Dea and I also have been working on a map of tiny perfect things — which I will tell you about soon. And, Meenal and I are doing a short story series. As you can see, lots of things.