Visual Studio

Visual Studio (VS) is a Windows-based integrated development environment (IDE) that provides graphical tools for designing, coding, debugging, and testing software. It can be used to create managed applications based on Microsoft’s .NET runtimes and languages, such as C#, and traditional, unmanaged C and C++ applications. It can also be used to build cross-platform Android and iOS mobile applications and C++ applications that target Linux. Other languages and platforms are supported with extensions. VS includes extensive integration with Azure to help developers leverage the Microsoft-hosted cloud platform and with GitHub, Azure DevOps, and Git to help developers work with source control and application life-cycle management services.

Organizations may find VS to be more attractive than competing IDEs because it provides turnkey delivery of the necessary components for most aspects of development (especially for the Windows platform) using a wide range of technologies. Open-source software alternatives, for example, often require more work to acquire and integrate the components necessary for development projects.