Use VSCode to help you with software development and collaboration

Why you might want to consider using VSCode

VSCode's most significant selling point is not that it's free. Its biggest selling points are actually:

  1. Remote editing
  2. Collaborative coding

If you are developing on a remote machine, the VSCode Remote Development extension pack will enable you to code on a powerful remote machine while having the UI local. VSCode's remote capabilities are convenient, as you can then install other utilities to turn VSCode into a full-fledged IDE (such as code linters and more). You can avoid running code locally, which is fantastic on a power-sipping laptop, and instead take advantage of more powerful compute servers. (It also beats mounting remote file shares, as the latency can be kill patience!)

If you're pair coding, nothing beats the collaborative coding capabilities of VSCode Live Share. This extension pack will enable you to invite a colleague or friend to type in your VSCode session with minimal latency. (It beats using MS Teams remote control!)

How do we get those extension packs?

I linked to the extension packs above, but in case you were distracted for a moment:

Of course, I'm assuming you have VSCode available on your system :).

See also: Configure VSCode for maximum productivity.

Alternatives to VSCode

Some of you may have customized vim, emacs, Eclipse, or PyCharm to your heart's content. If that's the case, you're already well-equipped!

Pages that link here

Choose and customize your development environment
At the end of the day, we choose a development environment that we are most comfortable with

Install code checking tools to help write better code
Why install code checking tools? If you're writing code, then having code checking tools that automatically check for potential issues while you write the code is like having a spell and grammar checker always on

Configure VSCode for maximum productivity

How do we configure VSCode?

VSCode has a built-in configuration setting that you can access using Ctrl/Cmd followed by a , (comma).

At the same time, VSCode is extensible using its Marketplace of extensions.

What built-in options should I configure VSCode for maximum productivity?

Autosave

Save some keystrokes by configuring VSCode to autosave your files after 10 ms. This is useful if your workflow doesn't involve running a live server that reloads code on every save.

Format on save/paste

When you explicitly command VSCode to save your file, it can run code formatters (such as black) on the file being saved.

Insert Final Newline

This option will insert a final newline to a plain text file. Makes viewing them in the terminal much easier.

Trim trailing whitespace

This will clean out trailing whitespace. Again, makes viewing them in the terminal a bit easier.

What VSCode extensions help with productivity?

Python + Pylance

The official Python extension for VSCode contains a ton of goodies that are configurable in the settings. It can help you load conda environments in the shell directly, automatically lint source code that is open, debug a program that has to be executed, automatic importing of resolvable functions and modules, and many, many more goodies for Python developers and data scientists.

In fact, you can write a .py file and execute it interactively as if it were a Jupyter notebook, without the overhead of the Jupyter front-end interface. Steven Mortimer even has an R-bloggers post on how to configure VSCode to behave like RStudio for Python, for those who prefer the RStudio interface!

With the Python extension being powerful as it is, the Pylance extension will supercharge it even more. Using an extremely performant code analyzer, it will highlight nearly all problems it detects within a source .py file within a few hundred milliseconds (maximum) of the file being saved. When I have had to do tool development as part of my data science work, Pylance has been essential for my productivity.

Peacock

One good practice we have written about here is to Follow the rule of one-to-one in managing your projects. When one project has one directory, that directory acts as a "workspace", which in turn gets opened in one VSCode window. If you have 3-4 windows open, then figuring out which one corresponds to which project can take a few seconds.

VSCode Remote

This extension gives you superpowers. It will enable you to edit code on a remote server while still having all of the goodies of a locally-running VSCode session. Leverage this extension to help you develop on a powerful remote machine without ever leaving your local editor.

indent-rainbow

This extension highlights indentation in different colours, making it easier to read Python (and other indentation-friendly languages') source files.

Rainbow CSV

Rainbow CSV highlights the columns in a CSV file when you open it up in VSCode, making it easier to view your data. This one was suggested by one of my book reviewers Simon Eng.

markdownlint

This extension checks your Markdown files for formatting issues, such as headers containing punctuations, or missing line breaks after a header. These are based on the Node.js markdownlint package by David Anson.

Markdown Table Prettifier

Also suggested by Simon, Markdown Table Prettifier helps you format your Markdown tables such that they are easily readable in plain text mode.

Polacode

Polacode is "polaroid for code", giving you the ability to create "screenshots" of your code to share with others. If you've ever used carbon.now.sh, you'll enjoy this one.

Choose and customize your development environment

At the end of the day, we choose a development environment that we are most comfortable with. The interface with our colleagues is at the level of what we share, so this should not be the highest of your concerns. Nonetheless, let me showcase where some tools can be used. Above all, avoid religious wars about text editors. Be productive, stay productive.

Install code checking tools to help write better code

Why install code checking tools?

If you're writing code, then having code checking tools that automatically check for potential issues while you write the code is like having a spell and grammar checker always on. It's also like having Grammarly check your spelling, grammar, and style all the time.

Code style can drift as a project proceeds. If you work with colleagues, code style nitpicks can become a source of frustration in interactions with them. Having code style checkers that automatically flag code style that deviates from a pre-defined norm can go a long way to easing these potential conflicts.

What kind of things should I check for?

Firstly, code style formatting tools. For Python projects:

  • Use black, the uncompromising code formatting tool and don't ask questions.
  • Use isort and don't ask questions. It will sort your imports for you. You'll love the magic, I guarantee it!

You can configure black and isort using a pyproject.toml config file.

Secondly, code problems. For Python projects:

  • Use interrogate to identify which functions don't have any docstrings attached to them.
  • Use pylint to find potential code errors, like dangling or unused variables, or variables used without declaring them beforehand.
  • If starting a new codebase, get MyPy in your project ASAP. This is also a great form of documentation, which is related to Write effective documentation for your projects.

You can configure some of these tools to work with Python source files in VSCode! (see: Use VSCode to help you with software development and collaboration) For example, you can configure VSCode to format your code using black on every save, so you don't have to keep running black before committing your code.

Many authors have written tons of enthusiastic blog posts on Python code style tooling. Here's a sampling of them:

Code style and code format tooling can be a rabbit hole that you run down. Those that I have listed above should give you a great starting point.