How to Install Visual Studio Code and Start Developing with C#

Welcome back to our coding tutorial series! In this article, we’ll guide you through installing Visual Studio Code (VSC) and setting up your environment to start developing with C#. Visual Studio Code is a free, powerful, and easy-to-use code editor that’s perfect for beginners and experienced developers alike.

Step 1: Download and Install Visual Studio Code

1.1 Download Visual Studio Code

First, you’ll need to download Visual Studio Code. Follow these steps:

1. Open your web browser and go to the Visual Studio Code website.
2. Click on the “Download” button. The website will automatically detect your operating system and provide the correct version.

1.2 Install Visual Studio Code

Once the download is complete, follow these steps to install Visual Studio Code:

• Windows:

1. Double-click the downloaded .exe file.
2. Follow the installation wizard instructions.
3. Once installed, you can launch Visual Studio Code from the Start menu or desktop shortcut.

• macOS:

1. Open the downloaded .dmg file.
2. Drag and drop the Visual Studio Code icon into the Applications folder.
3. Open Visual Studio Code from the Applications folder or Spotlight search.

• Linux:

1. Follow the instructions specific to your Linux distribution from the Visual Studio Code download page.
2. Generally, you can install it using a package manager like apt for Debian-based distributions or yum for Red Hat-based distributions.

Step 2: Install the .NET SDK

To develop C# applications, you need to install the .NET SDK, which provides all the tools and libraries necessary for building and running C# applications.

2.1 Download the .NET SDK

1. Open your web browser and go to the .NET download page.
2. Click on the “Download .NET” button.
3. Select the recommended version for your operating system and download the installer.

2.2 Install the .NET SDK

• Windows:

1. Double-click the downloaded .exe file.
2. Follow the installation wizard instructions.

• macOS:

1. Open the downloaded .pkg file.
2. Follow the installation wizard instructions.

• Linux:

1. Follow the instructions specific to your Linux distribution from the .NET download page.

Step 3: Set Up Visual Studio Code for C# Development

Now that you have Visual Studio Code and the .NET SDK installed, let’s set up VSC for C# development.

3.1 Install the C# Extension

1. Open Visual Studio Code.
2. Click on the Extensions view icon on the Sidebar (or press Ctrl+Shift+X on Windows/Linux or Cmd+Shift+X on macOS).
3. In the search bar, type “C#”.
4. Find the “C# for Visual Studio Code (powered by OmniSharp)” extension and click the “Install” button.

3.2 Create Your First C# Project

1. Open the terminal in Visual Studio Code by selecting View > Terminal from the menu (or press Ctrl+ on Windows/Linux or Cmd+ on macOS).
2. Navigate to the directory where you want to create your project.
3. Run the following command to create a new console application:

dotnet new console -n MyFirstCSharpApp

This command creates a new folder named MyFirstCSharpApp with a basic C# console application.

4. Open the newly created project in Visual Studio Code:

cd MyFirstCSharpApp
code .

3.3 Run Your C# Application

1. In Visual Studio Code, open Program.cs from the Explorer view.
2. You should see a simple “Hello, World!” program. To run it, open the terminal and type:

dotnet run

You should see the output “Hello, World!” in the terminal.

Step 4: Debugging Your C# Application

Visual Studio Code has excellent debugging capabilities. Here’s how to set up debugging for your C# application:

1. Open Program.cs.
2. Set a breakpoint by clicking to the left of the line number where you want to pause execution.
3. Open the Run and Debug view by clicking the Debug icon on the Sidebar (or press Ctrl+Shift+D on Windows/Linux or Cmd+Shift+D on macOS).
4. Click on “Run and Debug” and select “.NET Core Launch (console)”.
5. The debugger will start, and your program will pause at the breakpoint you set.

You can now inspect variables, step through code, and perform other debugging tasks.

Conclusion

Congratulations! You’ve successfully installed Visual Studio Code, set up the .NET SDK, and created and run your first C# application. You’re now ready to dive deeper into C# development and start building more complex applications and games.

Stay tuned for more tutorials where we’ll explore various C# features, Unity integration, and advanced game development techniques. Happy coding!