Sommario

What’s New in Visual Studio 2017?

How to Install Visual Studio 2017
What’s New for.NET core and Visual Studio 2017
Web Development with Visual Studio 2017
Visual Studio 2017 Linux Development in C++
Xamarin for Visual Studio 2017
C# Productivity with Visual Studio 2017
C++ IDE Performance in Visual Studio 2017
Debugging: Improvements in Visual Studio 2017
NET Docker Development with Visual Studio 2017
Live Unit Testing in Visual Studio 2017
New JavaScript in Visual Studio 2017
Architecture Dependencies in Visual Studio 2017
F# 4.1 in Visual Studio 2017
R Tools for Visual Studio 2017
What’s New in Visual Studio 2017?

For many coders, Visual Studio has been a crucial tool in their field. Visual
Studio provides many opportunities for coding that many programmers loved,
with its plethora of instruments and constant improvements, Visual Studio truly
is a great tool for them. Visual Studio has always been praised for its
invaluable help when it comes to web development, with its ASP NET
features, IntelliSense and much more that help coders.

Visual Studio 2017 continues the excellent service of its predecessors by

bringing new and improved tools to the table that will help coders improve
their work. Many of the improvements done to the new Visual Studio 2017
came from the feedback of those who use it – from the programmers
themselves; this assures that you are getting the tools that you need without the
clutter of instruments that you are not going to use. Visual Studio 2017
prioritizes a better coding experience and efficiency assuring satisfaction from
the coders who use it.

The new Visual Studio 2017 has many new features that programmers will
surely enjoy, and it all begins with the installation. Visual Studio 2017’s
installation procedures have been made easier, so installation runs faster and
makes as little impact on your system as possible. The installation also allows
you to install all three IDEs at once, that includes Visual Studio 2017
Community, Enterprise, and Pro editions, this gives you the ability to use three
different IDEs on one computer for various purposes and uses.

The Start Page has been revised. You now have the ability to pin projects and
search for projects and project templates. You can also open folders directly
and instead of having the “Recents” tab you now have more options for the
projects are now grouped into “Today” and “This Week” categories.

Working with solutions that contain a ton of projects can be time-consuming to

load. Now, as a new feature, Visual Studio 2017 has Lightweight Solution
Loading, this option accessible through the Tools tab, this lets you load
massive projects at a fraction of the time.

IntelliSense has always been a pioneering feature of Visual Studio, and now in
Visual Studio 2017, IntelliSense has been improved with the addition of
IntelliSense filters, giving you the ability to narrow down to the properties,
methods or events that you need.

With the new refactoring in Visual Studio 2017, the compiler has been
rewritten to run in the background and give you tips while you code.

For teams of coders, coding styles and conventions can now be evened out
with the addition of the EditConfig file. Now teams can define their coding
styles and conventions using the EditConfig file improving readability and
efficiency when coding.

Visual Studio 2017 also gives a strong emphasis to debugging. The new Visual
Studio 2017 is armed with the greatest debugging tools that a coder needs.
Essential debugging features has been added or improved, the code navigation
has been enhanced and can now filter the codes that you need, a new feature
Click To Run, and Live Unit Testing has also been added. These features help
you find problematic codes and address them properly. With the improved
Exception Helper, fixing problematic lines of codes can be done easily
because the new Exception Helper now gives better and more precise
information when you encounter errors while helping you fix such errors.

The new Visual Studio 2017 is a great testament to software that is made from
the feedback of the users themselves. The features improve work efficiency,
coding experience, and productivity. Visual Studio 2017’s new features is
truly a worthwhile experience for many coders.
How to Install Visual Studio 2017

The new Visual Studio 2017 brings great improvements and new features this
time around. It still boasts the vital coding tools that let programmers code
smoothly and efficiently. The new Visual Studio 2017 is now more
streamlined for better performance using the feedback from the users of
previous Visual Studio editions. It has improved many tools and added some
features; this includes the revamped IntelliSense, Live Unit Testing, and much
more.

As early as the installation setup, the improvements in Visual Studio 2017 can
be seen. The installation of Visual Studio 2017 is one of the key areas of
greatest investment. Great work has been done to cut down on installation time
so that you spend less time on setup and more on coding. Overall system
impact has also been reduced with the new Visual Studio 2017; there are
fewer system wide dependencies by default and a reduction on the entries
written by the setup. The core editor is now ten times smaller, trimming it
down to only a few hundred megabytes while still containing the necessary
elements such as syntax aware coding, source code control, and work item
management.

The setup was redesigned, every tool you need is now grouped into
workloads. Workloads give you the tools you need for a particular type of
development so that there is less clutter that gets installed and reduce the
number of instruments that you are not using. There are 20 different kinds
workload for Visual Studio from C++, R, and other programming needs.

When installing, you can either choose one IDE or install multiple IDEs. There
are three IDEs in Visual Studio 2017, Community, Professional and
Enterprise. Community IDE gives you access to the basic needs for individual
development, academic, and educational purposes such as C++, NET, NOJS, R
and much more. The Professional IDE, on the other hand, has some added
features including CodeLens. CodeLens enables you to understand more about
your code, the changes done, testing and if the code is the latest form. A more
feature packed IDE is Enterprise, with Enterprise you also get Live Unit
Testing. With Live Unit Testing, you do not have to worry about errors in your
codes since Live Unit Testing continuously tests them in the background and
highlights any problematic code. You can also customize Live Unit Testing and
the tests it performs.

The new Visual Studio 2017 is packed with features that coders and web
developers will like. It will be continuously improved with user feedback and
give an even better coding experience.
What’s New for.NET core and Visual Studio 2017

Visual Studio is a highly versatile tool used by many programmers and web
developers. Visual Studio is a complete package when it comes to coding; it
can help identify errors, fix them, and even improve readability and the
consistency of your codes.

Visual Studio is a preferred tool used by web developers because of the many
options and supports it offers in developing for the internet. The new Visual
Studio 2017 is even more capable of web development; this is because of how
the creators of Visual Studio has listened to the feedback from the users
themselves. The authors used those comments to improve Visual Studio, most
especially the .NET Core.

Visual Studio 2017 brings a lot of new features as well as improvements to the
the .NET core. .NET Core version 1.1 now runs on more operating systems
with the addition of more APIs and bug fixes. The new release of .NET also
includes uploads to Docker Images providing you snapshots of every possible.
These images include, those with Windows or Debian servers, also included
are SDK pictures and even images that only contain the .NET runtime. .NET
core tools are also now 1.0; this version means that the .NET Core Tools are
now fully supported.

For this version of .NET Core, Visual Studio 2017 has adopted the MS Build
Project File or .CSPROJ for .NET Core. Unlike the use of .JSON, .CSPROJ is
more reliable when creating large project files for .NET Core. Visual Studio
2017 also includes a migration option for .JSON projects to .CSPROJ by using
the .NET migrate command for .NETWORK tools. This feature in Visual
Studio 2017 facilitates the migration of the .JSON and even if you migrate your
files from the .JSON into .CSPROJ, the migrate command will create a backup
file to store your .JSON files. This backup ensures that you can return to your
.JSON based files if needed.
Visual Studio 2017 also comes with CLI tools. CLI lets you use the command
line syntax and much more.

Programmers and developers will have a much better coding experience with
Visual Studio 2017. There are more tools in store for Visual Studio and having
an LTS line helps it to improve. More updates, bug fixes, and additions are
expected for the .NET core in Visual Studio. For coders and web developers,
Visual Studio 2017 comes with great support and a plethora of websites for
valuable resources.
Web Development with Visual Studio 2017

If you’re a coder who specializes in web development then Visual Studio 2017
might be the right tool for your trade. The new Visual Studio 2017 is built for
users using feedback information from users themselves. This makes sure that
Visual Studio 2017 is well optimized for coders. Visual Studio 2017 is armed
with features and tools that a coder needs and even take on challenges. Visual
Studio 2017 is a guaranteed tool for coders in web development.
Building modern web applications will become easier now with Visual
Studio 2017. Visual Studio 2017 makes use of the late JavaScript technologies
for a better coding experience. With improved IntelliSense, debugging,
transpiling and linting, creating ASP.NET web applications will not only
become easier but increase productivity.
Creating an ASP.NET core applications through MVC is now made
easier especially if you’re writing it in razor templates. Visual Studio 2017
now offers you the Razor Language Services extension. This makes coding
easier by providing the IntelliSense feature for .NET expressions.
Using JavaScript in Visual Studio 2017 is now more enjoyable with the
JavaScript Language Service. With JavaScript Language Service, you can now
code easier with more support thanks to the use of the IntelliSense feature.
With IntelliSense in the mix your refactoring becomes easier, increasing your
productivity as you code all the while providing a better coding experience.
With Visual Studio 207 the previous Chakra Engine will be replaced
with a better language service boosting Visual Studio 2017’s performance.
This was done by modifying the language service used in TypeScript to also
process JavaScript. The performance boost can be seen in Visual Studio
2017’s faster load times, reliable IntelliSense feature especially when doing
callbacks or extended running loops. Visual Studio 2017 also offers, and not
just for JavaScript, the filtering of your IntelliSense window, this provides you
with the codes you need when you need it.
A great addition for JavaScript coders that is now available in Visual
Stage 2017 is the ESLint. ESLint is the premier linter for JavaScript. What
linters do, especially ESLint on JavaScript, is a static code analysis, simply
put linters make sure that the codes you write in JavaScript have high quality
so that the codes you write in JavaScript work optimally. This linting service
is also available for coders using CSS or CoffeeScript.
The new and improved Visual Studio 2017 truly is the optimal tool for
web developers using ASP.NET. Having been built with user inputs in mind,
Visual Studio 2017 and its future iterations will surely be useful for many
coders.
Visual Studio 2017 Linux Development in C++
Visual Studio 2017 presents you Linux Development in C++, a programming
app in Visual Studio 2017. Visual Studio 2017 now allows you to code in C++
for servers using Linux as well as devices and desktops. Using Visual Studio,
you can easily manage connections within your machines. Your sources will be
immediately copied and built, and you can instantly launch the application
using the debugger.

The Linux C++ project system of Visual Studio 2017 supports different
targeting specific architectures, one of which is ARM. Take note though, Visual
Studio requires open ssh-server, gdb, g++ and gdbserver. To get started with
your Linux C++ projects in Visual Studio, read further.

1. Installation

Make sure you have an installer for Visual Studio 2017. Launch it and
start with a new installation, or you may also modify an existing
installation. In the screen showing the workloads selection, look for
Other Toolsets, choose Linux development with C++ and select
Install. You’re now ready for your first project.

2. Getting Started with the Project

To begin with your first project, select File and then New Project. It
will then expand to Cross Platform, Visual C++ and Linux.

As of the moment, there are 4 templates available in Visual Studio:

Blink, which is fit for devices similar to Raspberry Pi, Empty, allows
you to add sources as well as configure from scratch, Console
Application, a bare work area, and Makefile, the perfect template for
your own remote building processes.

You might want to start with a console application. Usually, this is given
in a debug/x64 configuration. However, you can change the
configuration options. After creating your template project, set your
breaking point in the print statements. On the menu bar, click Debug, F5,
Start Debugging, or Remote GDB Debugger.
If you are a beginner in using a Linux machine, you will be asked for the
connection information which will be prompted by creating the project.
Visual Studio 2017 supports passwords and certificate-based
authentications, including those certificates that use passphrases. There
is no need to worry, the passwords and passphrases are all encrypted
upon entering. Your saved connections may be managed under the
Connection Manager, Cross Platform, Options and Tools.

Once you have connected, your sources will immediately be copied to

the Linux machine. Visual Studio 2017 will instantly invoke the gcc to
construct the sources along with some options seen in the Project
Properties. After successfully completing the build, your codes will be
run on the application’s remote machine, and the breaking point you set
will be reached.
Xamarin for Visual Studio 2017
Visual Studio 2017 has just been launched recently, and along with the new
platform comes amazing new features! You are now able to create applications
with User Interface with help from Xamarin and Visual Studio 2017.

Xamarin, a programming app in Visual Studio 2017, supports C# and XAML,

allowing developers to use single code bases to build applications that can run
on different platforms such as Windows, iOS and Android. You don’t need to
master the bits and pieces of every platform – C# and XAML in Xamarin
enables you to create programs without difficulty.

XAML is used by Xamarin as a markup language to create the pages, controls,

and views, in short, the UI. On the other hand, C# is used as the “support
codes” – the logic, data, properties and executable codes that can be run and
launched. Do not be confused though. You are not building a program in
Xamarin, rather, you are building the program in XAML and C# with the use of
Xamarin.Forms, a component of Xamarin.

What makes Xamarin different from other systems is that the eco-system it’s
using is under C# and XAML. Xamarin implanted in its platform a mono port
of .NET Core in Visual Studio 2017. This means that Xamarin.Forms can now
implement XAML in different platforms, including iOS, Windows, Android
and Mac. So, when making an entry to your shared code, an iOS textbox will
be created with the mono runtime on iOS, and an Android textbox will be
made with the mono runtime on Android.

1. Installation

Before everything else, make sure that you have installed a UI for
Xamarin. You can download the installer in this link:
https://www.telerik.com/download-trial-file/v2/ui-for-xamarin. After
installing it, you are now ready to start building your own Xamarin App
in Visual Studio with Teleric Project Wizard.
2. Creating your First Application

To begin with your first project, create a blank Xamarin application with
the Portable Class Library for the common non-platform specific code.
After that, a prompt about the New Universal Windows Project will
appear. All you have to do is click OK.

After a few minutes, the built-in templates in Visual Studio 2017 will be
shown as a multi-project solution. However, do not execute it yet.
Instead, close the solution and open it again. Notice that each project is
loading. After that, open NuGet Manager for the solutions so the
installed list will be shown. Select the updates list and update those
above the block, a single update at one time.
C# Productivity with Visual Studio 2017

Coding with C# can be fun but thanks to Visual Studio 2017, C# coding can
become more enjoyable thanks to the added feature that comes with Visual
Studio 2017. The new C# 7.0 is now jam packed with great features that’ll
help you improve your productivity in coding.
To begin let’s take a look at the new features that is included in the new Visual
Studio 2017. The first feature you’ll get to see in the new Visual Studio 2017 is
the addition of live unit testing, with live unit testing you don’t have to worry
about spotting errors. Live Unit Testing continuously runs tests in the
background on you code spotting any error that might arise in your project. If
an error is seen it is immediately flagged and you could see the line with the
error via marker on the left side indicating the problematic line of code. But
with so many tests to run how can you specify which tests to run? This can be
done by going to the solutions explorer, there you can specify which tests will
run in the background.
With the new live testing unit for Visual Studio 2017 you don’t have to
waste time looking for errors and with the revamped exception helper coding
in C# can be less of a hassle.
Following the list of modifications in Visual Studio 2017, the Find All
Reference has also been revamped to increase efficiency. The results in the
Find All Reference are now colorized to improve readability. Find All
Reference now has the ability to create custom hierarchy.
In Visual Studio 2017’s new IntelliSense has been improved. The
IntelliSense feature now offers better options for coders who mostly use the
keyboard especially in narrowing down the results from IntelliSense. A good
addition to Visual Studio 2017’s IntelliSense feature is the new feature of code
suggestions. Code suggestion gives Visual Studio 2017 the ability to inform
you with a better code alternative to what you are using by simply highlighting
the code. This can help coders improve their coding efficiency and the
consistency of their coding style. Together with tons of new refactoring options
Visual Studio 2017 can offer a better coding experience.
Support for Custom Coding Conventions is now available in Visual
Studio 2017. With an EditorConfig file coders can now enforce their coding
styles unto their team by simply editing the custom editor config file. This will
help promote understanding and readability in the team’s codes.
C++ IDE Performance in Visual Studio 2017

The Visual Studio Engineering team of Visual Studio 2017 always aim to
improve the productivity of their platform for C++ developers. Everyone
knows that great performance is always the cornerstone of a developer’s
productivity. This article will enlist the three newest improvements in C++
IDE Performance in Visual Studio 2017.

1. Quicker solution load for C++

This new feature in C++ projects enables you to open your projects with
a faster loading time. Also, instead of opening the whole project, you can
just opt to open the certain part of a project you need to open. To try the
new feature, set Enable Faster Project Load to True in the Tools which
can be found in the Options.

Another experimental feature the engineering team added in Visual

Studio for an improvement in the solution load is the lightweight
solution load feature. Basically, the purpose of the feature is to prevent
other projects from loading if you only want to load a certain project.

2. Faster building cycle using /Debug:fastlink

Because of the integration of /debug:fastlink, the developer builds will

be created faster than before. You could expect 2-4 times linker
improvements in your application builds. That was made possible
because of the engineering team got rid of the private symbol
information. The debug information is disseminated to the library files
and input objects, and the PDB is only used as an indexing database.

There were also requests in tooling that has the capability to make a full
PDB from /debug:fastlink PDB, and this newest release addresses that.
Developers are now enabled to generate a complete PDB from a mere
/debug:fastlink PDB both in a solution and project level by using the new
 options such as (1) Build Only Win32Project1, (2) Rebuild Only
Win32Project 1, (3) Clean Only Win32Project1, (4) Link Only
Win32Project1, (5) Build Full Program Database File, and (6) Run Code
Analysis on Only Win32Project1.

3. Reduced out-of-memory crashing in Visual Studio 2017 when debugging

The engineers also managed to reduce the memory being consumed by

the symbol information and maintained the performance that benefits the
pre-fetching symbol data. The users are now enabled to pre-fetch on
modules relevant for evaluation and display of an expression or a
variable. The engineering team have successfully debugged the unreal
engine processes and reduce it to 3 gigabytes of virtual memory as well
as 1.8 gigabytes of private working sets. This is a significant
improvement from the previous versions that causes the memory to run-
out.
Debugging: Improvements in Visual Studio 2017
The new additions to Visual Studio 2017 aren’t only focused on creating
a better coding experience – they also focus on debugging specific issues.
Many coders know that debugging can be both a hassle and time consuming.
Fortunately, with the new Visual Studio 2017 and its enhanced features
debugging can be made a lot easier. Visual Studio 2017’s debugging was built
upon the feedback of the users themselves ensuring that these improvements
will serve them to the fullest.
Among the plethora of debugging tools available to Visual Studio 2017
is the run to click feature. If you’ve used Visual Studio 2015 you might be
familiar with the run to cursor feature. If you want to isolate a certain or simply
want to test a function in a line you can access the run to click feature. If you do
encounter a problematic line the improved exception helper will quickly
provide you with the information you need to resolve the problematic code or
line. The new exception helper in Visual Studio 2017 gives you access to the
exception type, exception image and an in-depth summary of the exception
thrown. Make sure to utilize these improvements in the exception helper to
identify and resolve errors.
User feedback had a great profound impact on the development of Visual
Studio 2017. Visual Studio 2017 is tailored so that coders can have the
information they want when they want. If you’re debugging and want more
details on the processes you can quickly access the Summary Tab. The
summary tab gives you quick information, condensed diagnostic tool window
and IntelliTrace. Sometimes when you’re debugging, you want to find help
from other coders regarding a problematic line or simply want to take a
snippet of the code for reference. Visual Studio 2017 gives you the ability to
take snapshots of your work. Through the right side panel, you can access the
Take Snapshots button. With this tool taking a snapshot of your codes is made
easier and accessible. Accessible on the right side panel is also the CPU
profiling tool to help you in debugging processes.
If your work doesn’t allow you to use F5 or you simply opt not to Visual
Studio 2017 has got you covered. When not using F5 you simply click Debug,
Attach Process and then filter the processes through the Exception Filter.
Visual Studio enables you to reactivate the process just like pressing F5. To do
this, you simply click Debug then choose Reattach to Process and Visual
Studio 2017 will reattach the previous codes that were executed.
With the wide array of tools present on Visual Studio 2017, debugging
will surely be easier.
NET Docker Development with Visual Studio 2017

Microsoft recently released the Visual Studio 2017. The first version of the
software was released on March 1997. Visual Studio 97 came in the
Enterprise and Professional editions. It also included Visual C++ 5.0, Visual
Basic 5.0, Visual InterDev, Visual FoxPro, and Visual J++ 1.1. Every product
had a different IDE that time, which was why the term Visual Studio was quite
misleading.
Also, Microsoft has not released a single mainstream visual programming tool,
which can be used to visually code. Instead, it released development tools that
are driven by GUI. Visual Studio, nevertheless, was a hit. A lot of Microsoft-
platform developers were able to access the tools that they needed to use. They
were also able to address issues with stability and performance.
With this being said, a lot of changes have occurred throughout the years. The
tools, for example, have been changed. These tools include the Visual Studio
LightSwitch, which was a development tool used for database applications.
With regard to Visual Studio 2017, notable improvements include a brand new
setup that is more modular. This means that its initial install is lightweight and
quick. You can also add other features if necessary. Users agree that the pre-
release versions are much faster than the previous monolithic setup.
Microsoft aims to perform cross-platform development through their new
Visual Studio. Android and Linux can now be targeted by Visual C++. .NET
Core, which is a cross-platform version of the .NET, is also integrated. You
are also allowed to create Web applications for Linux and then debug them
within Docker containers. The programming app is Visual Studio 2017 is
enjoyed by many.
In addition, the .NET Core in Visual Studio 2017 has better performance. It is
much faster compared to the .NET Framework, which is why it is preferred by
a lot of Visual Studio developers. Then again, porting existing ASP.NET
applications are not trivial, especially if you have the previous ASP.NET Web
Forms instead of the ASP.NET MVC.
The Visual Studio editor is new and improved. Some of its newest features
include the structure visualizer. To use it, you simply have to hover your mouse
on the closing brace and wait for the tooltip to show you the line of code over
an opening brace. There is also Go to All, which you can use to look for any
type, file, symbol, or member in solutions. You can filter according to the type
of reference. You can also use Run to Click by hovering your mouse over the
line of code while in break mode and then clicking on Run to Click.
Live Unit Testing in Visual Studio 2017

Live Unit Testing (LTU) is included in Visual Studio 2017. It is also available
for Visual Basic and C# projects that aim for the .NET Framework. In essence,
Visual Studio 2017’s LTU is easy to use. It is easy to stop, start, restart, or
pause. You can look at the coverage information shown on the editor as you
continue to type.
You can also navigate quickly to failed test, as well as debug failed test, and
continue and edit without restarting. This LTU is integrated with the Test
Explorer. It is adaptable to work with various unit testing frameworks. It also
includes and excludes targeted projects or test methods for big solutions. You
can also configure it using Tools, Settings, or Options.
Note that if you wish to turn on the feature, you have to search for the Test
command at the topmost part of your menu bar and select Live Unit Testing >
Start. You are free to stop or pause it any time you want. For instance, if you
are currently refactoring and the tests are going to be broken, you can stop or
pause.
When you pause, you suspend the feature. Once this occurs, you will not see
coverage visualizations on your editor. Nonetheless, every data you have is
accumulated and stored. When you want to resume again, you simply have to
click on Continue and LTU will catch up with the edits that have been done
while it was on pause. Likewise, it will take care of all glyph updates.
When you pause, you stop the feature completely. Keep in mind that once this
Live Unit Testing has been started, it would take a long while for the glyphs to
show up. This would take longer than when it was on pause and then resumed.
Every date gets lost when the LTU is stopped.
When you restart, it is like you select Stop and then Start to begin the Live Unit
Testing once more.
Furthermore, Live Unit Testing and Test Explorer Window are synchronized.
When you change the code, impacted tests are run by LTU and are then
displayed on the Test Explorer Window.
If you wish to configure the options for your LTU, you just have to go to
Options and then choose Live Unit Testing from the left side of the dialog box.
You will then see a fairly detailed list of configurable options.
New JavaScript in Visual Studio 2017

Microsoft recently released Visual Studio 2017 to the public. When you first
get your hand on it, you will notice that its installation is different from the
previous versions. There is a new installer, which Microsoft claimed to have
developed to lessen the minimum Visual Studio footprint; to make installation
faster with less system impact as well as to have a clean uninstallation; and to
make it easier for users to choose and install the features that they want.
After you download the installer, you have to run it. Once you do that, you will
see the privacy policy. Now comes the best part. If you only need basic
installation, you can skip the process and you will have 740 MB, which is
better than the 8 GB that basic installation of Visual Studio 2015 needs. Then
again, if you are like most users and wish to install more, you just have to add
Workloads. You can also go to Individual components and choose what you
want to add. This includes .NET Core in Visual Studio 2017, .NET
Framework, etc.
You will be delighted to find support for both mobile as well as game
development workloads included in the installer. They are there with the other
toolsets you can find for the Linux development and Visual Studio extension.
Such workloads support Cocos2D, Unreal, DirectX, Cordova, and Xamarin.
You are lucky if you are coming from Visual Studio 2015 because your
transition to the 2017 version will be smooth. The moment you log into your
account, you can load up all your preferences. There are also a lot of great
updates, such as better performance. You can find improvements to navigation,
refactoring, IntelliSense, debugging and code fixes. This will help you save
energy and time on your daily tasks, no matter what platform or language you
use.
The new Visual Studio is optimized to make the startup time and the solution
load time shorter. So, you can finish the process in half the time you were used
to. The new version also monitors extension performance, which affects
editing, solution load, and startup. In case there are any poorly performing
extensions, you will be alerted.
There is also Run to Click, which is a new debugging feature. With it, you can
easily execute codes as well as stop on lines without having to perform a lot of
steps or set temporary breakpoints. If you stop during a break state, the Run to
Click icon would show up next to the code that you have hovered your mouse
over. All you have to do is click on this icon as you debug and the code would
run.
Architecture Dependencies in Visual Studio 2017

In the new Visual Studio 2017, you can enable the full solution analysis when
you use live dependency validation. You will see a gold bar in your Error List.
You can also choose to either disable or enable the full solution analysis, as
well as dismiss the gold bar if you do not want to see the architectural issues.
In the Visual Studio 2017, the analysis is no longer triggered when you say a
dependency Validation diagram. This can be a problem when you want to
immediately view the effects of issues on codes. You will need to close and
reload your solution. Moreover, deleting dependency validation diagrams does
not get rid of the links from VB and C# projects.
Nevertheless, you can now click on error codes for dependency validation
error messages to see the explanations of the issues. For example, when you
see DV0001, you have an Invalid Dependency issue, which occurs when code
elements mapped to a Layer references code elements mapped to other layers,
and yet no dependency arrows between the layers within the dependency
validation diagrams that contain the layers exists.
DV1001 is for an Invalid namespace name, which occurs when code elements
related to layers that Allowed Namespace Names properties do not have the
namespaces wherein the code elements are defined. It is a violation for naming
constraints. DV1002 is for a Dependency on unreferenceable namespace,
which occurs when code elements associated with layers references other
code elements defined within namespaces which are defined on the
Unreferenceable Namespace layer property.
Take note of the differences between the Live Dependency Validation of Visual
Studio 2017 and the Layer validation of Visual Studio 2010 – 2015. Old issues
generally have error codes that begin with Architecture Validation errors (AV)
whereas new issues have error codes that begin with Dependency Validation
errors (DV).
One may not easily see the differences. However, if you have Visual Studio
2015 solution and your legacy Layer validation is enabled, you have to migrate
this solution to enable the live dependency validation. Also, if anyone opens
the solution using Visual Studio 2015, Visual Studio 2016 will begin to display
the new issues and the old issues. They may or may not be the same. The main
reason for such differences is that the Layer or legacy validation was done
against the binary code while the new validation is done against the source
code.
F# 4.1 in Visual Studio 2017

The F# 4.1 has support for the .NET Core in Visual Studio 2017 as well as
.NET Standard. It also has language features and updates to the Visual F# for
the Visual Studio 2017. Along with the unveiling of this new version of Visual
Studio is the release of preview support for the use of F# on .NET Core
(specifically 1.0 – 1.1) as well as .NET Standard 1.6. Some of the includes
pieces are RC-quality such as the F# support in .NET Core SDK and .NET
CLI, FSharp.Core as the .NET Standard NuGet package, and the F# compiler
that runs on the .NET Core as the .NET Core console application.
The F# support for the .NET Core Visual Studio tooling and the F# Interactive
that runs on the .NET Core as .NET Core console application are not yet
supported at the moment, but they are going to be made compatible in an update
for the Visual Studio 2017. You can write F# applications on the .NET Core
using dotnet new in a .NET CLI, run it on every platform, and develop NuGet
packages that are based on the .NET 1.6.
To do this, you have to install the .NET Core using a platform installer for your
operating system or Visual Studio 2017. Then, you have to make a folder,
rename it as you like, and open the command line to see dotnet new. You have
to use dotnet’s restore command so that you can restore your packages. You
have to use the run command so that you can run and compile applications. You
also have to use dotnet publish so that you can make a publish directory with
an app as well as its dependencies. You can use the dotnet command to run
your published .dll file.
When you use the F# on the .NET Core, you have to keep in mind that the Code
Quotation compilers and the Type Providers are still unsupported.
Nevertheless, the other F# codes run on the .NET Core 1.1 of every platform.
.NET Standard and .NET Core both move towards version 2.0, which is
scheduled to be released later in the year. This version contains the APIs that
are not found in version 1.0, as well as certain changes. This unblocks the
support for the Code Quotations and the Type Providers.
Aside from being driven by community RFC processes, the F# 4.1 had a lot of
community contributions. It has struct types that inter-operate with the C#
tuples, as well as struct annotations for Records and Single-case
Discriminated Unions. It also has support for fixed keywords and numeric
literal underscores.
R Tools for Visual Studio 2017

The R Tools for Visual Studio 2017 are expected to be released this May.
They followed the R Tools for Visual Studio 2015. These tools are open
source plug-ins that are available for free. They turn Visual Studio into a
productive and powerful R development environment. They build on the Visual
Studio, which is why you can benefit from tons of great features without having
to pay for anything. You can use multiple languages, take advantage of high-end
Debugging and Editing tools, as well as use any of the 7,000+ extensions.
A polyglot IDE is one of the core features. Visual Studio supports a variety of
languages including Python, R, C#, C++, SQL, and Node for projects. There is
also an Editor, which you can use to edit R functions and scripts, such as
detachable or tabbed windows and syntax highlighting. Then, there is
IntelliSense, which is also known as auto-completion. It is available in the
Interactive R window and the editor. The R Interactive Window allows you to
directly work with your R console from Visual Studio.
If you wish to search, view, and use previous commands and then send to your
Interactive window, you can use the History window. You can also use the
Variable Explorer if you have to drill into the R data structures as well as
define their values. If you wish to see R plots within the Visual Studio tool
window, you can use Plotting. Likewise, you can use Debugging if you want to
perform stepping, breakpoints, call stacks, and watch windows among others.
There is R Markdown, which exports to HTML and Word. There is also Git,
which is a source code control and Help, which you can use to see the R
documentation in Visual Studio.
The R Tools for Visual Studio also include features that deal with the different
needs of users and Data Science teams. They integrate with the SQL Server
2016 Services as well as the SQL Server Tools for Visual Studio. Even though
they have to be downloaded separately, they are greatly useful in enhancing the
R Tools for Visual Studio with support for Intellisense interactive queries and
syntax coloring.
You can use the Microsoft R Client or the CRAN R interpreter to practice data
science at scale. You can also use the integrated support for continuous
integration, git, agile tools, testing, bug and work-item tracking, reporting, and
release management through the Visual Studio Team Services.