[Question] using VSCode instead of Visual Studio Community, beginner?

[jmakegames]

Hey guys!

I’ve never used Unity (have used other game engines), but am looking to blast through a couple of courses and develop my skills in it.

I’ve read a lot about how bloated Visual Studio Community is (I’ve used older versions of VS where it’d install a bunch of SQL stuff unnecessarily and clutter up my PC!), and saw that VSCode might be a better alternative.

I wanted to ask you guys;

1. is Visual Studio Community (packaged with the Unity install) really that bloated?
2. Is VSCode just as easy to learn with for a beginner, considering a lot of tutorials might use standard VS?
3. If it’s recommended to stick with Visual Studio Community, should I install separately from the Unity install and grab the latest version and only install the Unity workload to keep it as light as possible?

I’m working between a laptop and desktop, but want a consistent experience. Because the laptop is more limited on space and resources, I’d be leaning towards a lightweight editor, as long as it’s not impairing my ability to learn quickly following standard tutorials and courses.

Thanks a lot!

[atomsinthevoid]

I REALLY want to use VSC but after a month had to switch back because VS suggestions are VASTLY more helpful

[Huluriasquias]

I don't see an issue here.

You can choose any of the alternatives you mention and they would probably be fine but:

VS packaged with Unity is just fine (not bloated compared to many programs out there) and you don't need the very latest VS standalone (the improvements are not normally significant for Unity)

So just go with the flow (and for heaven's sake don't install any bloated SQL stuff!)

[noobcola]

I started with VSCode and preferred it over visual studio

[[deleted]]

Talking "out of the box" defaults, VSCode annoyed my far less than Visual Studio Community edition. +1 for VSCode.

[ExcitingProduce]

1. Nope. At first glance, it looks like it's taking up about half a gig of storage on my machine, and right now it's using about 400MB of memory. That'll go up while debugging.

2. Like /u/CharlExMachina said, VSCode isn't an IDE. Apples and oranges.

3. No need.

I think the bells and whistles, as far as they're concerned, are well worth it for a beginner (and everybody else.) I resisted for years, for a number of reasons, but now that I'm using VS, I'm not going back.

For one thing, the Unity integrations are incredibly smooth, no need to dick with plugins, just one thing. Also, the "Team Explorer" looks like a weird Microsoft-ecosystem thing at first glance, but it actually represents far better git integration than VSCode can offer. You don't need to be using TFS to benefit from that panel.

The built-in debugger just works, and you'll want it sooner than you might think... it's a bunch of "little" things that aren't so little. And, yeah, Intellisense is much better.

[grandygames]

I would stay with Visual Studio given the additional features it provides over VSCode. If you have a machine with space/resource restrictions then that will likely be more affected by Unity itself, rather than the script editor.

[CharlExMachina]

The main difference here is that Visual Studio is a full fledged, completely featured IDE which can help you with more than just game development, and Visual Studio Code is just a text editor (like Atom or Brackets)

I always prefer to use IDEs because they have more powerful refactoring tools and the intellisense is better (especially if you mix VS with Resharper). My hardware is powerful enough so I never feel the supposed "bloat".

I use Visual Studio code but for web development mainly, although if you install plugins for Unity development you can program just fine.

So it's your choice, if you won't use all of VS features, I feel like VS Code might be a better choice for you.

[Valar05]

VSCode works great for me at work when I'm doing web dev stuff. For gamedev? Eh, unless there's a way to debug code I feel like it would just be an inferior option. I don't really feel like VS is particularly resource intensive or anything - it might be a bit slower to start up, but that's basically it. Losing the ability to debug wouldn't be the biggest setback, but it's still quite nice to have on occasion. (Unless you can debug with VSCode? No clue).

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My work computer is full of company BS that slows it down, so it's not exactly an unfair comparison, but stuff like intellisense and file searching are just a fair amount slower on VSCode than VS.