Microsoft has released a Java debugger for its free open source editor, Visual Studio Code. The newly minted extension is intended to work as a companion to the Language Support for Java extension provided by Red Hat.
Whereas Red Hat’s Language Support for Java extension provides IntelliSense capabilities and Java project support, it does not include debugging capabilities. Microsoft’s Java Debug Extension works with previous Red Hat’s extension to provide them. Still in a preview mode, the Java Debug Extension offers capabilities including launch/attach, breakpoints, control flow, data inspection, and a debug console. The Microsoft and Red Hat extensions are available separately or in the Java Extension Pack, which bundles both together in a single install. Microsoft’s plans call for enabling a modern workflow for Java, with more features and extensions planned going forward.
Visual Studio Code is designed to be a streamlined editor with support for operations such as task running, debugging, and version control. It leaves more complex workflows to fuller-featured IDEs. Leveraging the GitHub Electron framework for building cross-platform desktop applications, Visual Studio Code runs on Windows, MacOS, and Linux.
This story, "Java debugging comes to Visual Studio Code" was originally published by InfoWorld.
