Microsoft: New VS Code update is out – stable builds for Windows on Arm and Surface Pro X

Microsoft has finally released its popular cross-platform code editor Visual Studio Code (VS Code) for Windows on Arm, which brings the editor to devices like the Surface Pro X and Samsung's Galaxy Book S. 

VS Code is available for macOS, Linux and Windows 10, but until now there has been no stable version for Windows on Arm devices. Microsoft has ported VS Code, which is built on Electron and Chromium, to Windows on Arm following testing with VS Code insiders that began this May. 

"VS Code for Windows on Arm is now available for the stable release," Microsoft VS Code team announced for the June update.

SEE: Windows 10 Start menu hacks (TechRepublic Premium)

That's good news for developers who took a gamble on Windows on Arm devices, such as the Surface Pro X, which will soon face stiff competition from Apple's new Arm-based Macs. Apple has already shown it can run Microsoft Office apps that still aren't available for the Surface Pro X. 

VS Code builds for Windows on Arm fills in a significant gap for Microsoft on its Arm-based Surface Pro X. As The Register pointed out in May, Electron 7.0.0, which was released in October, a month before the Surface Pro X. 

This release brought the 64-bit Windows on Arm support Microsoft needed to extend VS Code to Windows on Arm. Another major gap was closed in February when Microsoft released the new Edge with Arm64 support. 

The June update, VS Code 1.47, also includes the new default debugger for JavaScript – Node.js and Chrome – in VS Code. 

In this month's VS Code insider release, testers are being offered support for synchronizing VS Code preferences across machines. Users can also turn off Preferences Sync in the context menu. 

SEE: Programming language Python: Microsoft's VS Code gets Pylance to 'supercharge' coding

The preview includes improved support for the Typescript 4.0 beta, bringing across an IntelliSense feature for loading large JavaScript or TypeScript projects. 

"The changes in TypeScript 4.0 make it possible for VS Code to provide IntelliSense and other more advanced language features while a large project is still loading," explains the VS Code team. 

"The caveat is that the IntelliSense we can provide is limited to consulting the current file instead of the entire project. This means that features such as suggestions and 'Go to Definition' will work, but we will only show suggestions from the current file and you can only run 'Go to Definition' to jump to another symbol in the current file." 

More on Microsoft's Visual Studio Code