code --install-extension secanis.jenkinsfile-support
-
Terraform - Adds support for Terraform files.
code --install-extension mauve.terraform
code --install-extension yzhang.markdown-all-in-one
code --install-extension jebbs.plantuml
code --install-extension VisualStudioExptTeam.vscodeintellicode
-
YAML - Adds YAML support.
>
code --install-extension redhat.vscode-yaml
Theme
My default theme. Similar to VS Code default dark theme but has support for FiraCode and Operator Mono fonts. I personally use FiraCode.
code --install-extension idbartosz.darkpp-italic
A nice icon theme based on material icons.
code --install-extension PKief.material-icon-theme
Subtly changes the workspace color of your workspace. Helpful to identify when you have many windows open.
code --install-extension johnpapa.vscode-peacock
Tools
Automatically rename paired HTML/XML tags
code --install-extension formulahendry.auto-rename-tag
Marks matching bracket pairs with unique colors. This really makes reading code nicer
code --install-extension CoenraadS.bracket-pair-colorizer-2
Convert between different cases. Trust me this is so handy
code --install-extension wmaurer.change-case
Fairly useful for spell checking within code. Takes cameCase etc into account
code --install-extension streetsidesoftware.code-spell-checker
Useful to store re usable snippets.
code --install-extension tariky.easy-snippet-maker
Add support for EditorConfig.
code --install-extension EditorConfig.EditorConfig
Enable viewing Git history within VS Code.
code --install-extension donjayamanne.githistory
Makes it easy to work with .gitignore files.
code --install-extension codezombiech.gitignore
Hides patterns defined in .gitignore from the editors explorer.
code --install-extension npxms.hide-gitignored
Exclude stuff right from the explorer tree.
code --install-extension jcmordan.mark-as-excluded
Easily toggle between showing and hiding excluded files/folders.
code --install-extension eamodio.toggle-excluded-files
I have bad muscle memory so wanted to use the same keyboard shortcuts as IntelliJ. There are mappings available for Sublime, Atom and so on.
code --install-extension k--kato.intellij-idea-keybindings
Sorts JSON object keys.
code --install-extension richie5um2.vscode-sort-json
Adds an explorer panel for running tests. Supports multiple languages and testing frameworks.
code --install-extension hbenl.vscode-test-explorer
Aggregate TODO, FIXME, etc in a tree view in explorer.
code --install-extension Gruntfuggly.todo-tree
Terminal setup
If you are using Zsh shell with Oh-my-zsh like me as explained here, you might want to do the below to get the same terminal experience in the integrated VSCode terminal as well.
Follow these steps
- Download and install a patched font.
- On GNU/Linux, run
fc-cache -f -v to refresh font cache.
- On VSCode, open Preferences → Settings and click on the
{} icon to open JSON mode and set the below
"terminal.integrated.shell.linux":"/usr/bin/zsh","terminal.integrated.fontFamily":"'SauceCodePro Nerd Font Mono','Source Code Pro'","terminal.integrated.rightClickCopyPaste":true,"terminal.integrated.fontSize":14,"terminal.integrated.cursorStyle":"underline","terminal.integrated.cursorBlinking":true
Replace linux with osx if you are on a Mac.
Conclusion
This might seem like too many plugins but on my configuration VS Code is lightning fast and loads up immediately and is faster then IntelliJ to load and work with. The beauty of VS Code is that you don't need all the plugin all the time, you can disable the ones not required per workspace to make it even faster.
Many people ask me why I use VS Code when I have IntelliJ and my answer have been always the same. IntelliJ is great but its also quite heavy. While all those advanced features are needed for Java, Scala or Kotlin development, VS Code is perfectly capable of giving a nice developer experience for lightweight languages like JS, TS, Go, Python, Rust, Ruby, etc.
As a regular user of both IntelliJ and VS Code, I prefer VS Code as much as possible. The user experience is much nicer for my taste. In fact, I like the developer experience in VS Code better for JavaScript, TypeScript, Web, Python, and Golang. Also switching between them for JVM projects and others don't feel weird for me as I have the same keyboard mappings for both. The only time I fire up IntelliJ these days is when I want to do full-fledged Java development. For everything else, I use VS Code.
I hope you find this useful. If you have any questions or if you think I missed something please add a comment.
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