What is an IDE?

An integrated development environment (IDE) is a software application that helps

programmers develop software code efficiently. It increases developer productivity
by combining capabilities such as software editing, building, testing, and packaging
in an easy-to-use application. Just as writers use text editors and accountants use
spreadsheets, software developers use IDEs to make their job easier.

Why are IDEs important?

You can use any text editor to write code. However, most integrated development
environments (IDEs) include functionality that goes beyond text editing. They
provide a central interface for common developer tools, making the software
development process much more efficient. Developers can start programming new
applications quickly instead of manually integrating and configuring different
software. They also don't have to learn about all the tools and can instead focus on
just one application. The following are some reasons why developers use IDEs:

Code editing automation

Programming languages have rules for how statements must be structured.
Because an IDE knows these rules, it contains many intelligent features for
automatically writing or editing the source code.
Syntax highlighting
An IDE can format the written text by automatically making some words bold or
italic, or by using different font colors. These visual cues make the source code
more readable and give instant feedback about accidental syntax errors.
Intelligent code completion
Various search terms show up when you start typing words in a search engine.
Similarly, an IDE can make suggestions to complete a code statement when the
developer begins typing.
Refactoring support
Code refactoring is the process of restructuring the source code to make it more
efficient and readable without changing its core functionality. IDEs can auto-refactor
to some extent, allowing developers to improve their code quickly and easily. Other
team members understand readable code faster, which supports collaboration
within the team.
Local build automation
IDEs increase programmer productivity by performing repeatable development
tasks that are typically part of every code change. The following are some examples
of regular coding tasks that an IDE carries out.
Compilation
An IDE compiles or converts the code into a simplified language that the operating
system can understand. Some programming languages implement just-in-time
compiling, in which the IDE converts human-readable code into machine code from
within the application.
Testing
The IDE allows developers to automate unit tests locally before the software is
integrated with other developers' code and more complex integration tests are run.
Debugging
Debugging is the process of fixing any errors or bugs that testing reveals. One of
the biggest values of an IDE for debugging purposes is that you can step through
the code, line by line, as it runs and inspect code behavior. IDEs also integrate
several debugging tools that highlight bugs caused by human error in real time,
even as the developer is typing.
Introduction to Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an Integrated Development Environment(IDE) developed by
Microsoft to develop Desktop applications, GUI(Graphical User Interface), console,
web applications, mobile applications, cloud, and web services, etc. With the help of
this IDE, you can create managed code as well as native code. It uses the various
platforms of Microsoft software development software like Windows store, Microsoft
Silverlight, and Windows API, etc. It is not a language-specific IDE as you can use
this to write code in C#, C++, VB(Visual Basic), Python, JavaScript, and many more
languages. It provides support for 36 different programming languages. It is
available for Windows as well as for macOS.
Evolution of Visual Studio
The first version of VS(Visual Studio) was released in 1997, named as Visual Studio
97 having version number 5.0. The latest version of Visual Studio is 15.0 which was
released on March 7, 2017. It is also termed as Visual Studio 2017. The supported
.Net Framework Versions in latest Visual Studio is 3.5 to 4.7. Java was supported in
old versions of Visual Studio but in the latest version doesn’t provide any support for
Java language.
Visual Studio Editions
There are 3 editions of Microsoft Visual Studio as follows:
1. Community
It is a free version which is announced in 2014. All other editions are paid. This
contains the features similar to Professional edition. Using this edition, any
individual developer can develop their own free or paid apps like .Net applications,
Web applications and many more. In an enterprise organization, this edition has
some limitations. For example, if your organization have more than 250 PCs and
having annual revenue greater than $1 Million(US Dollars) then you are not
permitted to use this edition. In a non-enterprise organization, up to five users can
use this edition. Its main purpose is to provide the Ecosystem(Access to thousands
of extensions) and Languages(You can code in C#, VB, F#, C++, HTML, JavaScript,
Python, etc.) support.
2. Professional
It is the commercial edition of Visual Studio. It comes in Visual Studio 2010 and later
versions. It provides the support for XML and XSLT editing and includes the tool like
Server Explorer and integration with Microsoft SQL Server. Microsoft provides a free
trial of this edition and after the trial period, the user has to pay to continue using it.
Its main purpose is to provide Flexibility(Professional developer tools for building
any application type), Productivity(Powerful features such as CodeLens improve
your team’s productivity), Collaboration(Agile project planning tools, charts, etc.)
and Subscriber benefits like Microsoft software, plus Azure, Pluralsight, etc.
3. Enterprise
It is an integrated, end to end solution for teams of any size with the demanding
quality and scale needs. Microsoft provides a 90-days free trial of this edition and
after the trial period, the user has to pay to continue using it. The main benefit of
this edition is that it is highly scalable and deliver high-quality software.
Getting Started with Visual Studio 2017
 First, you have to download and install the Visual Studio. For that, you can
refer to Downloading and Installing Visual Studio 2017. Don’t forget to
select the .NET core workload during the installation of VS 2017. If you forget
then you have to modify the installation.
 You can see a number of tool windows when you will open the Visual Studio
and start writing your first program as follows:

1.  Code Editor: Where the user will write code.

2. Output Window: Here the Visual Studio shows the outputs, compiler
warnings, error messages and debugging information.
3. Solution Explorer: It shows the files on which the user is currently working.
4. Properties: It will give additional information and context about the selected
parts of the current project.
 A user can also add windows as per requirement by choosing them from View
menu. In Visual Studio the tool windows are customizable as a user can add more
windows, remove the existing open one or can move windows around to best suit.

Various Menus in Visual Studio: A user can find a lot of menus on the top screen
of Visual Studio as shown below

1. Create, Open and save projects commands are contained by File menu.
2. Searching, Modifying, Refactoring code commands are contained by the Edit
menu.
3. View Menu is used to open the additional tool windows in Visual Studio.
4. Project menu is used to add some files and dependencies in the project.
5. To change the settings, add functionality to Visual Studio via extensions, and
access various Visual Studio tools can be used by using Tools menu.

The below menu is known as the toolbar which provide the quick access to the
most frequently used commands. You can add and remove the commands by going
to View → Customize
Features of Visual Studio IDE
1. Code Editor
 Syntax Highlighting: Enhances readability with color-coded syntax.
 Code Completion (IntelliSense): Provides code suggestions and
autocompletions.
 Code Snippets: Reusable pieces of code for common tasks.
 Error Detection: Real-time syntax and semantic error detection.
2. Debugger
 Breakpoints: Pause code execution at specific points.
 Watch Windows: Monitor the value of variables during debugging.
 Call Stack: View the active method calls.
 Step-through Execution: Execute code line by line to inspect behavior.
3. Project Management
 Solution Explorer: Manage files, projects, and solutions.
 Build and Compile: Integrated tools to build and compile projects.
 Configuration Management: Easily switch between different build
configurations.
4. Version Control
 Git Integration: Support for Git repositories, with built-in tools for
branching, merging, and conflict resolution.
 Other VCS Integration: Support for other version control systems like
Subversion and TFS (Team Foundation Server).
5. Design Tools
 Forms Designer: Drag-and-drop interface for designing GUI applications.
 Web Designer: WYSIWYG editor for web development, including HTML, CSS,
and JavaScript support.
 XAML Designer: Design interface for WPF (Windows Presentation
Foundation) applications.
6. Testing
 Unit Testing: Integrated support for writing and running unit tests.
 Test Explorer: Manage and run tests, view test results.
  Live Unit Testing: Automatically run impacted unit tests in real-time as
code is written.
7. Extensions and Customization
 Marketplace: Access to a wide range of extensions to enhance functionality.
 Customizable Shortcuts: Tailor keyboard shortcuts to your preferences.
 Themes: Switch between light and dark themes, and other visual
customizations.
8. Collaboration Tools
 Live Share: Real-time collaborative coding with other developers.
 Code Reviews: Tools to conduct and participate in code reviews.
9. Cloud Integration
 Azure Integration: Tools for deploying and managing applications on
Microsoft Azure.
 DevOps Tools: Integrated with Azure DevOps for CI/CD pipelines and project
tracking.
10. Mobile Development
 Xamarin: Tools for developing cross-platform mobile applications.
 Emulators: Integrated emulators for testing mobile apps.
11. Performance and Diagnostics
 Profiler: Analyze the performance of your applications.
 Memory Analyzer: Tools to detect memory leaks and optimize memory
usage.
 Diagnostic Tools: Real-time insights into CPU usage, memory consumption,
and other metrics.
12. Data Tools
 SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT): Integrated tools for database development.
 Entity Framework Tools: Tools for working with Entity Framework and other
ORMs.
 Server Explorer: Manage and interact with database servers directly from
the IDE.
13. Language Support
 Multi-language Support: C#, VB.NET, C++, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript,
and more.
 Language Services: Enhanced support for each language, including
debugging and profiling tools.