🔍 What is Visual Studio Code?

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a lightweight, free, open-source code editor developed by Microsoft. It supports multiple languages (JavaScript, Python, C++, etc.), has built-in Git support, debugging, IntelliSense, and a rich ecosystem of extensions.

📦 Step 1: Downloading Visual Studio Code

✅ Official Website:

Go to: https://code.visualstudio.com/

🖥️ For Windows:

• Click "Download for Windows".
• Run the downloaded .exe file.
• Follow the installation wizard:
  • Accept the license agreement.
  • Choose the destination folder.
  • Check "Add to PATH" (important!).
  • Optionally check:
    • "Register Code as editor for supported file types"
    • "Add 'Open with Code' to Windows Explorer context menu"
  • Click Install.
• Launch VS Code when done.

🍎 For macOS:

• Download the .zip file.
• Open the .zip – it extracts the Visual Studio Code.app.
• Drag it into the Applications folder.
• (Optional) Open Terminal and run the following to add code command to PATH:

  sudo ln -s /Applications/Visual\ Studio\ Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/bin/code /usr/local/bin/code

🐧 For Linux:

Ubuntu/Debian:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install wget gpg
wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > packages.microsoft.gpg
sudo install -o root -g root -m 644 packages.microsoft.gpg /usr/share/keyrings/
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'
sudo apt update
sudo apt install code

Fedora:

sudo rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
sudo sh -c 'echo -e "[code]\nname=Visual Studio Code\nbaseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc" > /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo'
sudo dnf check-update
sudo dnf install code

🧰 Step 2: Basic Configuration

1. Launch VS Code

   You can now open VS Code from:

   • The app menu
   • Windows start menu
   • Terminal using code .
2. Interface Overview
   • Explorer: View your project folder/files.
   • Search: Global search across files.
   • Source Control: Git integration.
   • Run & Debug: Launch debuggers.
   • Extensions: Install new tools.
   • Settings: Customize your editor.

🧩 Step 3: Installing Extensions

Popular Extensions:

How to Install Extensions:

1. Click on Extensions (⇧⌘X / Ctrl+Shift+X).
2. Search for an extension.
3. Click Install.

🧠 Bonus: Sync Settings Across Devices

Settings Sync (via GitHub or Microsoft Account):

Turn on via gear icon in bottom left → Turn on Settings Sync

Syncs:

• Settings
• Extensions
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Themes

✅ Summary

📚 Learn More

• Official Docs
• VS Code YouTube Channel