Open Source


ASP.NET Core: New Preview Out as Survey Says It's Going Mainstream

Things are happening fast for ASP.NET Core, as Microsoft just released a new Version 2.2.0 preview while a recent developer survey indicates the Web dev framework is quickly becoming a mainstream option.

.NET Core 2.1 Powers 34 Percent Bing Performance Boost

The modernization of the .NET ecosystem is paying off for Microsoft's Bing.com engineering team, which reports a 34 percent performance boost for the search engine following a shift from .NET Framework to .NET Core 2.1

F# 4.5 Arrives with Span Support, Aligning with .NET Core 2.1

Microsoft shipped an update to its functional programming language, incorporating Span support in the new F# 4.5.

Tool Checks Desktop App Readiness for .NET Core 3.0

Microsoft released a tool to help developers check if their Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Framework applications are ready for the new platform, which it said promises a "drastically better deployment solution."

What's New in Visual Studio Code 1.26 (July Update)

The July 2018 release of Visual Studio Code features new functionality for navigation, applying Quick Fixes to address problems, working with extensions and more.

Windows Community Toolkit 4.0 Update Ships

Microsoft has shipped Windows Community Toolkit 4.0, after earlier this year renaming the collection of development tools to reflect its broader reach beyond Universal Windows Platform apps to frameworks such as WPF, WinForms, Xamarin and .NET Core.

Microsoft Updates ML.NET Machine Learning Framework

Microsoft has updated ML.NET, its cross-platform, open source machine learning framework for .NET developers, as it asks for input on a major API revamp.

VS Code Tool Targets Alexa Skills Development

A new Visual Studio Code extension from the Amazon Alexa dev team targets the development and deployment of skills, or capabilities the voice-activated virtual assistant can perform in response to verbal commands.

Open Source Community Powers New F# 4.5 Preview

Perhaps nothing better exemplifies the "new" Microsoft than the process of developing the F# functional programming language it created 13 years ago, a process heavily dependent upon the open source community.

VS Code Gets AI-Assisted IntelliCode for Python

Python developers using Visual Studio Code are getting an AI-assisted boost from the editor's IntelliCode extension, just released in a preview.

GitHub Strengthens Visual Studio Ties

As expected following its recent purchase of GitHub, Microsoft's flagship Visual Studio IDE is seeing stronger integrations with the development platform and open source code repository.

Microsoft Puts VS Code Text Editor Tech into Azure Cloud Shell Command-Line Tool

Microsoft boosted the text editing capabilities of its Azure Cloud Shell command-line interface (CLI) tool with the addition of graphical Visual Studio Code editor technology.

Want to Get Started in Open Source? Try Improving Visual Studio Documentation

Improving documentation is often cited as a good onramp to open source, and Microsoft is inviting developers to get on board with Visual Studio and VS Code.

Visual Studio's Python IntelliSense Goes Standalone, Previews in VS Code Extension

Microsoft is converting the baked-in Python IntelliSense support in Visual Studio into a standalone product and previewing it in the new update to the VS Code Python extension.

Django, Flask Web App Tutorials Added to Python Docs for Visual Studio, VS Code

Microsoft added new Web app tutorials -- covering Django and Flask -- to its Python documentation for Visual Studio and its open source little cousin, the cross-platform Visual Studio Code editor.