Visual Studio Code solidifies Remote Tunnels for WSL: Boosting development efficiency

Visual Studio Code Stabilizes Remote Tunnels to WSL

Visual Studio Code 1.80, the latest edition of the popular code editor from Microsoft, introduces several new features and enhancements, including the stabilization of Remote Tunnels to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) instances. This functionality allows developers to connect securely to a remote machine from a VS Code client without the need for SSH. With the stabilization of this previously previewed capability, connections to WSL can now be made directly from the Remote Explorer. WSL enables developers to run a GNU/Linux environment directly on Windows, enhancing the cross-platform capabilities of Visual Studio Code.

Improved Editor Group and Tab Resizing

In addition to the Remote Tunnels stabilization, Visual Studio Code 1.80 also brings improvements to editor group and tab resizing. The update introduces a new setting, workbench.editor.doubleClickTabToToggleEditorGroupSizes, which allows users to disable toggling the size of an editor group from maximized to restored when double-clicking a tab of that group. Another new setting, workbench.editor.tabSizingFixedMinWidth, controls the minimum size of a tab when workbench.editor.tabSizing is set to “fixed”. Additionally, the update introduces a new value for the workbench.editor.splitSizing setting called “auto”. In this mode, splitting an editor group distributes available size evenly to all groups only if none of the editor groups has been resized. Otherwise, the space of the split group is divided in half and put in the new editor group.

Other Noteworthy Features

Visual Studio Code 1.80 includes several other new features and improvements that enhance the overall development experience:

• Commands for Expand and Shrink can now be configured to skip subwords, providing greater flexibility and efficiency.
• An Open Command (Alt+F2) has been introduced for accessibility purposes, allowing screen readers to inspect content character by character.
• Support for new link formats, including links that need to scan upwards to find the file, has been added.
• Images in the terminal, which were previously in preview, are now enabled by default.
• Visual Studio Code 1.80 previews TypeScript 5.2 support.
• A new Mypy type checker extension is available to provide type-checking support for Python using the mypy Python linter.
• A separate Python debugger extension called Debugpy has been created to address a situation where users were unable to upgrade a codebase and could not debug applications with the latest version of the Python extension when support for Python 2.7 and Python 3.6 was removed.

Conclusion

Visual Studio Code 1.80 brings significant enhancements to the code editor, particularly in terms of remote development capabilities and editor resizing options. The stabilization of Remote Tunnels to WSL allows developers to seamlessly connect to Linux environments directly from their VS Code clients, boosting productivity and enabling cross-platform development. Furthermore, the improvements to editor group and tab resizing provide users with more control over their workspace layout, creating a more personalized and efficient coding experience.

With its continuous focus on introducing new features and enhancements, Visual Studio Code maintains its position as a leading code editor in the software development community. As developers continue to seek tools that streamline their workflows and enhance their productivity, the latest update to Visual Studio Code is sure to be welcomed by the community.