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VSCode is free software, and also used a lot outside .NET development (TypeScript). It is extension based, and not all extensions every written for it are free

VSCode is free software, and also used a lot outside .NET development (TypeScript). It is extension based, and not all extensions every written for it are free software. And VSCode is not essential in any way for .NET development, and I am saying this as someone who learned C# with MonoDevelop on Linux around 2010. There are commercial IDEs like Rider, and you don't need an IDE to compile code - the build toolchain of .NET is free software. I don't buy into this "All tools associated with an ecosystem must be free software". That is not even true in Java/C++/Python land, where there is a plentheora of commercial and succesful developer tools (i.e. IntelliJ, CodeWarrior etc.)

bayindirh 4y ago
> VSCode is free software... As in beer only [0]. This license [1] states otherwise for free as in speech perspective. > and also used a lot outside .NET development (TypeScript). It is extension based, and not all extensions every written for it are free software. I know, and some of the non-free extensions are just the essentials, so they're what make VSCode, VSCode. So it's open-core, and it's not completely open source, and definitely not free. > And VSCode is not essential in any way for .NET development, I don't develop C#, but I know there are other tools and IDEs. > I don't buy into this "All tools associated with an ecosystem must be free software". That is not even true in Java/C++/Python land, where there is a plentheora of commercial and succesful developer tools (i.e. IntelliJ, CodeWarrior etc.) It may not be a necessity for you, and it's definitely not a necessity for closed source software or tools. However, I license all my code with GPLv3, and want my project to be buildable by anyone, regardless of anything. So I prefer a free and open toolchain (GCC/Eclipse/GNU libc) and libraries in my codebases. If I was writing a commercial application, I may make different choices IDE/Library wise, but I'll still continue to use GCC family. You don't have to buy into this. I'm not selling anything. This is my stance and a recommendation, but not an insistence. [0]: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq#_is-vs-code-free https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq#_is-vs-cod... [1]: https://code.visualstudio.com/license https://code.visualstudio.com/license
trissylegs 4y ago
The .NET debugging tools in VS code are proprietary. If you get the OSS build from your distro and try to debug a .NET program it'll fail with an error. (Telling you it's only available with proprietary VS code from MS) For other languages this might be a minor pain. For C# it kills one of its best features, it's debugging support.
- Nullabillity 4y ago
  This is also an ecosystem thing. Rust has pervasive support for printf debugging (#[derive(Debug)] and you're done), while .NET's default .ToString() method is completely useless (which I'm sure has nothing to do with Microsoft wanting people to rely more on their debugger...).

bayindirh 4y ago

> VSCode is free software... As in beer only [0]. This license [1] states otherwise for free as in speech perspective. > and also used a lot outside .NET development (TypeScript). It is extension based, and not all extensions every written for it are free software. I know, and some of the non-free extensions are just the essentials, so they're what make VSCode, VSCode. So it's open-core, and it's not completely open source, and definitely not free. > And VSCode is not essential in any way for .NET development, I don't develop C#, but I know there are other tools and IDEs. > I don't buy into this "All tools associated with an ecosystem must be free software". That is not even true in Java/C++/Python land, where there is a plentheora of commercial and succesful developer tools (i.e. IntelliJ, CodeWarrior etc.) It may not be a necessity for you, and it's definitely not a necessity for closed source software or tools. However, I license all my code with GPLv3, and want my project to be buildable by anyone, regardless of anything. So I prefer a free and open toolchain (GCC/Eclipse/GNU libc) and libraries in my codebases. If I was writing a commercial application, I may make different choices IDE/Library wise, but I'll still continue to use GCC family. You don't have to buy into this. I'm not selling anything. This is my stance and a recommendation, but not an insistence. [0]: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq#_is-vs-code-free https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq#_is-vs-cod... [1]: https://code.visualstudio.com/license https://code.visualstudio.com/license

trissylegs 4y ago

The .NET debugging tools in VS code are proprietary. If you get the OSS build from your distro and try to debug a .NET program it'll fail with an error. (Telling you it's only available with proprietary VS code from MS) For other languages this might be a minor pain. For C# it kills one of its best features, it's debugging support.

Nullabillity 4y ago
This is also an ecosystem thing. Rust has pervasive support for printf debugging (#[derive(Debug)] and you're done), while .NET's default .ToString() method is completely useless (which I'm sure has nothing to do with Microsoft wanting people to rely more on their debugger...).