#msvc

#msvc

The Swift for Visual Studio Code extension adds first-class language support for projects built with Swift Package Manager, enabling seamless cross-platform development on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Contracts are a means of setting preconditions and postconditions on function declarations, and adding assertion statements within functions. The feature is intended to help make C++ code safer and more reliable.

What started in 2019 as a couple of utilities for things like window and shortcut management has gradually expanded to nearly 30 useful tools, including a keyboard shortcut creator, an image-to-text extractor, and a better search bar than the one that's built into Windows proper. PowerToys has become wildly popular among Windows power users, with more than 70 million downloads to date, but it's also completely free, with no ads, Office upsells, or ham-fisted Copilot integrations.

Microsoft first rolled out Advanced Shader Delivery in its SDK last September and added support to the ROG Xbox Ally as a proof of concept by October. Microsoft said that the addition reduced launch times in games like Avowed by "as much as 85 percent," which is a big deal on battery-limited handhelds.

New overloads on TarFile.CreateFromDirectory accept a TarEntryFormat parameter, giving direct control over the archive format. Previously, CreateFromDirectory produced Pax archives. The new overloads support all four tar formats—Pax, Ustar, GNU, and V7—for compatibility with specific tools and environments.

It allows developers to test code, review pull requests, and more, but also exposes them to attacks via repository-defined configuration files, Orca says. "Codespaces is essentially VS Code running in the cloud, backed by Ubuntu containers, with built-in GitHub authentication and repository integration. This means any VS Code feature that touches execution, secrets, or extensions can potentially be abused when attackers control the repository content," the cybersecurity firm notes.

After streamlining our development and delivery process, we'll ship a new Stable release every week. Endgame will now be folded into our weekly activities. This acceleration is enabled by AI automation, including a one-click experience for creating test plans from feature request issues, reducing manual steps previously required.

Microsoft PC Manager, which first appeared in beta form in 2022, and is now available for free to anyone who wants to give it a try. Microsoft promises it "effortlessly enhances PC performance with just one click," and will "keep your PC running smoothly." In other words, it's intended to clean up some of the clutter and baggage that your PC may have accumulated over the years.

Open VSX is operated by the Eclipse Foundation, and provides extensions unencumbered by the restriction Microsoft places on the VS Code marketplace that "alternative products including those built on a fork of the Code-OSS Repository, are not permitted to access the Visual Studio Marketplace." Microsoft cites security and compatibility as reasons, and there is no business case to "run a full-scale global service for everyone to use."

The reason for this is Snap - a Linux application packaging format - creates a local Trash folder for each VS Code version, one that's separate from the system-managed Trash, according to a VS Code bug report dating back to November 11, 2024. Not only that, but Snap keeps older versions of VS Code after updates, potentially multiplying the number of local Trash folders and the trashed-but-not-deleted files therein. Emptying the system Trash folder doesn't affect the local instances.

The headline runtime feature in this preview is Runtime Async, described as a major change to how asynchronous methods work in .NET. According to the release notes, since C# 5 introduced async/await, the compiler has been solely responsible for rewriting async methods into state machine structs that track progress across suspension points. With Runtime Async, the runtime itself now understands async methods as a first-class concept and takes over responsibility for suspending and resuming methods.

Microsoft's .NET Framework 3.5 development platform, which dates back to November 2007, is no longer included as an optional Windows component. Microsoft has changed its deployment model to standalone installer status for future Windows versions. In a bulletin published February 5, Microsoft said that beginning with Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 27965, .NET Framework 3.5 must be obtained as a standalone installer for applications that require it on newer major versions of Windows.

With C# 14, now you can run a C# file directly from the command line without needing a project or solution file. Until C# 14, we've had to follow a multi-step process to run a minimal .cs file. Not only was this a multi-step process, but it incurred significant additional overhead because you had to create a solution file and a project file to run your application.

The MSTest framework can be accessed via NuGet. With MSTest 3.4, support for WinUI framework applications is added to MSTest.Runner. With this improvement, a project sample is offered and work is under way to simplify testing of unpackaged WinUI applications. Microsoft also has improved the test runner's performance by using built-in System.Text.Json for .NET rather than Jsonite and by caching command line options.

The "What's New" first-run experience will appear during startup to guide users through the app's latest features. According to Microsoft, "this dialog provides a quick overview of what's possible in Notepad and serves as a helpful starting point for both new and returning users." It can be closed and reopened by clicking a megaphone icon in the top-right of the toolbar.