I did. I faked it.
Just a few days ago, Microsoft briefly posted a Visual Studio Code for the Web bulletin, which was later removed and is now 404. Although the content of the bulletin has been removed, we can still see the archived version.
This sensational news soon caused a heated discussion in the community.
According to the deleted announcement, Visual Studio Code for the Web is an online Web-based Code editor that runs directly in a browser without a download or installation. The announcement to remove the post explained that “VS Code for the Web is free for everyone”. In terms of content, the service is similar to the current GitHub Web editor. We can use it to browse source code hosted on GitHub and local machines. Users can navigate to the GitHub file and source code repository, submit and modify the code content, and open the repository in the editor to view the specific content for use.
This is not the first time that Web ides have been introduced, with demonstrations of web-based Eclipse workbench on EclipseCon and the emergence of Web-based ides such as Heroku that are also RoR application hosting environments, it has been heralded that Web-based ides will become mainstream. Gitee even launched its “Web IDE” three years ago.
As an online integrated development environment, the Use of the Web IDE does not require a local installation of the development environment, just open the browser can be developed immediately, while supporting breakpoint debugging, version management, team development and other functions. Its advantages over traditional native ides are almost self-evident.
1, fast, the previous development environment to build every time to replace the computer, you have to reinstall the development environment, at the same time after writing the code is saved in the local content, if not pushed to the remote warehouse, you can not get the latest code on other computers. But the Web IDE doesn’t need to be reinstalled, and it can be saved at any time during the coding process. Even if our computer suddenly crashes, we can log in on another device, grab the code we wrote before, and open a browser on any computer and code immediately. At the same time, we can access the code content through the browser at any time. Mobile phones and tablets can also become our programming tools, which really realize the freedom of coding and no longer need to worry about synchronization.
2, efficient, Web IDE support team real-time online code communication and coordination, multi-person development need to adjust everyone’s local environment, and in the case of online editing everyone’s programming environment is the same, only need to carry out environment configuration, improve the efficiency of software development;
3. Collaborative, the code is saved in the cloud in real time and has multiple backups. Even if the local computer hard disk is broken, the code will not be lost. At the same time, when we need to cooperate or send the code content to other partners, we only need to send the storage address to the partners, which can help you debug the code content without environment configuration. It is also more convenient for multiple people to cooperate in code editing.
The desktop version of VS Code has always been a productivity tool for developers, but the advantages of web-based VS Code include more than just the three things mentioned above. In the new announcement Microsoft says that “VS Code for the Web can be upgraded to GitHub Codespaces instance” for situations that require a full remote environment, build, debug, full use of extensions and access to terminals.
Looking at the market, now domestic giants are also promoting and using Web IDE, Ali Cloud released Kaitian IDE, Tencent Cloud released Cloud Studio, Huawei Cloud released CloudIDE,IT community BFwWiki released BfwStudio and so on.
This means developers are one step closer to working from anywhere.
However, we all know that Visual Studio Code has a lot of feature points, and as a productivity tool, we expect it to be very responsive. Will the upcoming Web version of the IDE deliver performance we like? We expect Microsoft to make breakthroughs in Web applications that will dramatically improve the responsiveness of Web applications and address developers’ concerns.