Visual Studio Extensions To Make Life Easier

VS vs BS

Visual Studio Code is a free and open-source editor used for building modern web applications. Personally it is the only editor I write code in and has been instrumental in my growth as a developer. One of the great things about VScode is its many extensions. Extensions let you add languages, debuggers, and tools to your installation to support your development. Here is a list of essential extensions to help you along in your coding journey.

Bracket Pair Colorizer

This extension is a huge help to amateurs and pros alike. It can get confusing keeping everything clear to the eye when files start to get larger. Why not make it easier to see what is going on in the brackets and parenthesis? This extension automatically color-matches pairs of brackets so those nested components, functions, and objects are easier to decipher.

Better Comments

I know a lot of programmers who don’t leave a lot of comments in their code during development. For the rest of us there is Better Comments. The drab green of the default comment is pretty dull and doesn’t catch the eye at all. Better Comments lets you customize your comments into different colors and types.

JavaScript (ES6) Code Snippets

When you are working on JS projects with large amounts of code it can get tedious writing the same cookie-cutter snippets over and over. Using the JS code snippets allow you to trigger shortcuts for full code cutting down on development time and increasing efficiency.

Auto Rename Tag

This is so simple but so effective. ART will automatically update the close tag with whatever you type as the open tag. This is especially helpful in languages like React with its JSX. This one in particular has saved me more time and energy than any other extension.

Prettier

This extension makes formatting a breeze. Prettier will auto format code to match certain criteria like making sure only double-quotes are used, correct any misused semi-colons to end statements, and improper indentations. Perfect for when you have multiple people working on the same project or for new programmers getting used to convention.

Beautify

Speaking of formatting, Beautify is a great way to sample formatted HTML code. Simply type the raw code in the editor and out comes the perfectly formatted result. Again great for beginners trying to get used to convention.

REST Client

If any of you are fans of Postman like myself this is a great option to have inside VScode. It allows you to have all the features you would with Postman and have the response directly viewable in Code. I fought this one for awhile and now I use it all the time.

Improve Your Coding Experience

It’s amazing how something small like changing the color or font in your code editor can help overall. There is a huge library of extensions available inside the VScode editor. Take some time to explore and I’m sure you will go down the rabbit hole, finding extensions that suit your needs along the way.

Happy Coding!