Changes to Visual Studio 2022
Visual Studio is an innovative starting point used in the development of apps. The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is a feature-rich program, utilised in various aspects of software development. In addition to the standard editor and debugger provided by many IDEs, Visual Studio includes other features to help streamline the software development process, such as compilers, code completion tools and graphical designers.
The next major release for Visual Studio has now been unveiled, featuring changes that have been heavily guided by the results of surveys, customer studies and feedback from Microsoft’s new Developer Community.
So, what can we expect from Visual Studio 2022?
Designed for everyone
The UI is a recurring theme in the 2022 launch, which showcases many features to improve clarity, enhance consistency and allow the user to fully customise their own IDE, ultimately improving productivity. Even though the update will include refreshed icons, as well as new enhanced themes and the introduction of Cascadia Code, Microsoft promises to maintain familiarity with existing versions.
64-bit upgrade.
Microsoft has announced that Visual Studio 2022 will feature a 64-bit upgrade, meaning it’ll be able to handle the most demanding projects with ease, and without running out of memory. What’s more, Visual Studio will continue to offer the functionality to build 32-bit apps.
Modern app development
.NET
Visual Studio 2022 offers full support for .NET 6 and its unified framework for web, client and mobile apps for both Windows and Mac developers, but it doesn’t stop there! This also includes .NET MAUI for cross-platform client apps on Windows, Android, macOS and iOS, as well as the ability to use ASP.NET Blazor web technologies to write desktop apps.
C++
Featuring the latest toolchain for targeting C++20, Visual Studio 2022 also offers peace of mind for those worried about compatibility issues, as it’s binary-compatible with 2019.
Azure
Thanks to a library of repositories which describe the most common patterns used in today’s apps, the new release makes it really straightforward to develop modern cloud-based applications with Azure. To make it even quicker and easier to get going, the required development environment will be defined within each repository.
Innovation & Productivity
Insight and productivity
Visual Studio’s AI IntelliCode engine has improved its ability to predict users’ subsequent behaviour seamlessly. With Visual Studio 2022, integration into your regular workflow is further enhanced, helping you to take the perfect action, in the right place, at the right time.
Diagnostics and Debugging
Visual Studio 2022 includes enhancements to the core debugger, with additional features such as improved discovery of the hot paths using a flames charts in the profiler, dependent breakpoints for more precise debugging, and integrated decomplication experiences.
Improved code search
Microsoft promises better performance for critical activities in Visual Studio 2022, including improved code search to further aid productivity. A feature used for many reasons including learning from others, sharing code, assessing the impact of changes while refactoring, investigating issues or reviewing changes, the enhancements will allow search outside of the loaded scope, ensuring results no matter what code base or repo it’s located in.
Real-time collaboration
Collaboration is made even easier with Live Share, bringing new opportunities for pair programming, to share ideas and review code. The integration of text chat will enable quick conversations without any context switches, as well as the ability to schedule recurring sessions to simplify collaboration with frequent contacts.
Upgraded Visual Studio for Mac
The new release vows to deliver a modern .NET IDE for Mac, that mirrors the much-loved productive experience in Visual Studio. Microsoft is working to move to a native macOS UI, which will come with greater performance and reliability, and bring the ability to take advantage of the in-built macOS accessibility features.
Overall, we think the announcement contains some exciting updates which will, no doubt, be welcomed by many software developers. If you haven’t already, check out the preview and let us know your thoughts over on our LinkedIn.
