According to Microsoft, community developers are driving changes to its flagship IDE, including a host of improvements in the just-announced second preview of Visual Studio 2017 Version 15.4.
In announcing Windows Template Studio 1.3, Microsoft hinted that work has begun to support Visual Basic programming in the wizard-driven dev tool for Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps.
Just before Stack Overflow deemed it the "fastest-growing major programming language," Microsoft conveniently detailed updates for using Python in the new Visual Studio 15.4 Preview 1.
Microsoft suggests using an extension or judiciously rearranging windows.
Visual Studio Code's monthly release cadence continues to stream a new supply of goodies in each iteration, with the latest one featuring better code refactoring, a more versatile color picker, automatic tag closing and much more.
Microsoft is building on top of the Mono platform's handy Linker tool to turn its code-shrinking powers loose on reducing the size of .NET Core apps.
Microsoft has been publishing a series of free eBooks and other guidance about .NET application architecture best practices, with the latest focusing on Xamarin.Forms patterns.
Microsoft said new code refactorings highlight the latest open source TypeScript 2.5 release, along with a host of other improvements.
Microsoft is previewing new functionality for its Skype communications app that lets employers conduct technical/coding interviews with prospective developer job candidates without having to switch among different apps.
Visual Studio for Mac, building upon the previous Xamarin Studio IDE acquired by Microsoft, is out in a new preview along with hands-on labs that can help developers try out its new features.
Microsoft released version 2.0 of the UWP Community Toolkit, a package of helper functions, controls and services for simplifying common tasks involved in coding Universal Windows Apps for Windows 10.
Developer Eros Fratini has resurrected Clippy, the infamous cartoon paperclip that served as an assistant for users of the Office productivity software suite many years ago.
Noted database expert and author Ted Neward discusses his favorite features of Angular and explains how to get started with the popular platform for building Web, mobile Web, mobile native and desktop apps.
JetBrains is out with the year's second upgrade to its ReSharper Ultimate suite of tools for enhancing .NET development, featuring the popular ReSharper offering for code refactoring.
Risking the wrath of recalcitrant developers, Microsoft is changing the icon scheme for its Visual Studio Code editor.
Microsoft's Xamarin unit announced a new certification program for mobile professionals, offering a badge below the level of its existing cert.
Support for the new .NET Standard 2.0 spec continues to spread into the Microsoft ecosystem, as a new Visual Studio preview enables the development of Universal Windows Platform apps for the upcoming Windows Fall Creators Update, leveraging the spec's APIs.
Once again, Mr. Xamarin comes to Visual Studio Live! to discuss cross-platform development.
"If you've ever used VSTS/TFS Code Search, you've probably loved it, it felt like this was the way code searching should be. Then you did a code search in Visual Studio, and were reminded of the painful past...."
Just after declaring the company will support Microsoft's new .NET Core 2.0 across its open source portfolio, Red Hat further strengthened the open source development ties between the companies in a bevy of announcements, including a new container pact.