Code, Coffee, and Clever Debugging: Leslie Richardson's Microsoft Journey and the C# Dev Kit in Visual Studio Code with Leslie Richardson

The Modern .NET Show

Avalonia XPF

This episode of The Modern .NET Show is supported, in part, by Avalonia XPF, a binary-compatible cross-platform fork of WPF, enables WPF apps to run on new platforms with minimal effort and maximum compatibility.

Show Notes

Yeah, so C# Dev Kit, it is a pretty new extension in VS Code. We just GA'd it back in early October. And it's an extension that basically enables you to be productive writing C# applications in VS Code.

—Leslie Richardson

Welcome to The Modern .NET Show! Formerly known as The .NET Core Podcast, we are the go-to podcast for all .NET developers worldwide and I am your host Jamie "GaProgMan" Taylor.

In this episode, I spoke with Leslie Richardson about the C# Dev Kit, a new extension for Visual Studio Code which aims to make the experience of writing C# and .NET code in the free editor more productive. It improves the experience of working with almost all code bases which use modern .NET, and includes the ability to even run and explore your unit tests within VS Code - something that wasn't easily doable previously.

I know before C# Dev Kit existed, the Test Explorer is a window that exists by default in VS Code. But yeah, you're already laughing like, "oh yeah."

So it wasn't very great pre Dev Kit from my understanding, like simple things such as being able to automatically recognise your test once you build your test project. That was not a thing, which blows my mind. I'm like, "but then what are you supposed to do? Just manually add them in? That doesn't sound fun at all, especially if you're trying to do the whole test-driven development." You've got tests everywhere and it's like, "well, that's 50 some tests I have to log in. Yippee. I love testing."

Yeah, I can't imagine that's a great experience. So thankfully, with C# Dev Kit, we've actually made the window functional. I know, bare minimum, but I still think it's pretty good. So when you build your test projects, it should be able to recognize everything that you have registered as a test via like a test method attribute or whatever kind of test type that you're using

—Leslie Richardson

So let's sit back, open up a terminal, type in dotnet new podcast and we'll dive into the core of Modern .NET.

Supporting the Show

If you find this episode useful in any way, please consider supporting the show by either leaving a review (check our review page for ways to do that), sharing the episode with a friend or colleague, buying the host a coffee, or considering becoming a Patron of the show.

Full Show Notes

The full show notes, including links to some of the things we discussed and a full transcription of this episode, can be found at: https://dotnetcore.show/season-6/code-coffee-and-clever-debugging-leslie-richardsons-microsoft-journey-and-the-c-sharp-dev-kit-in-visual-studio-code-with-leslie-richardson/

Useful Links

• C# Dev Kit
• .NET Aspire
• The Visual Studio Toolbox:
  • on YouTube
  • on Twitch
• ASP .NET Core 101
• Jamie's recommended books for juniors:
  • The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
  • Essentialism by Greg McEwen
• The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman
• GitHub Copilot
• Visual Studio subscription
• .NET MAUI extension for VS Code
• Unity extension for VS Code
• Codespaces
• Microsoft Dev Box
• What is VS Code and C# Dev Kit? [Pt 1]
• Leslie on Twitter
• The OmniSharp-based C# extension
• Supporting the show:
  • Leave a rating or review
  • Buy the show a coffee
  • Become a patron
• Getting in touch:
  • via the contact page
  • joining the Discord
• Music created by Mono Memory Music, licensed to RJJ Software for use in The Modern .NET Show

Remember to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Podchaser, or wherever you find your podcasts, this will help the show's audience grow. Or you can just share the show with a friend.

And don't forget to reach out via our Contact page. We're very interested in your opinion of the show, so please get in touch.

You can support the show by making a monthly donation on the show's Patreon page at: https://www.patreon.com/TheDotNetCorePodcast.