Writing VSCode extensions for fun an profit

Speaker: Nikolaj Fogh

Audience level: [ Beginner ]

This talk is not so much a talk about C++. Actually, it is not about C++ at all, but about how we can use VSCode extensions to replace legacy IDEs and integrate legacy build systems into a modern editor.

Although build systems for C++ have come a long way in the recent years. Some projects are still tied to legacy or archane in-house-built build systems with all their quirks and shortcomings. Also, developers are often forced to use out-of-date IDEs to do their development.

Recently, VSCode has become a really popular tool, also for C++ programmers. This stems mainly from the editors extensions, which gives it support far various languages and allows one to automate many repetitive and manual tasks.

In this talk, I'll give a hands-on "live" demo of how to get started with making your own VSCode extension. I'll show how one can automate repetitive tasks. Also I will show how one can tailor VSCode to make it work better with the quirks of the code base that you are working on.