3 years ago

Category: Software, Microsoft, github

Well, this week’s entrant to that debate has declared that we have entered the era of Visual Studio Code, with the Microsoft-developed editor having “reached unprecedented levels of popularity and refinement, laying a foundation that could mean decades of market dominance,” according to developer Roben Kleene. According to Kleene, VS Code has achieved this dominance through four primary points.

Second, it has taken the idea of “text editor as platform,” with its prominent use of extensions, to “its final form.”

Kleene’s final point, VS Code’s backing by Microsoft and its aggressive development, contrast the editor to that of Sublime Text and Textmate, showing that VS Code has a more consistent release cadence, which is enabled both by its corporate backer and the very active open source community behind it. Beyond talking about popularity and horse races, Kleen writes that “The goal of this piece is to determine if VS Code is a good investment in learning if you value longevity,” and he surmises that “VS Code is giving indications that the era of short reigns for text editors is over.