Supercharging Embedded Linux Development with Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) has quickly become one of the most popular code editors for many developers, including Embedded Linux developers. VS Code is a lightweight and extensible editor that can be used to develop and debug embedded Linux applications. In this talk, we will explore how you can streamline your embedded Linux development workflows using VS Code with many readily available plugins.
Features that make it well-suited for Embedded Linux development include:
- A powerful code editor with syntax highlighting, completion, and refactoring
- Intellisense support for intelligent, context-aware help
- Support for languages common in Linux designs, including C, C++, Python, and JavaScript
- A built-in terminal for running commands and troubleshooting
- Transparent remote access using SSH, making working with your remote device feel like local development
We will cover the basics of using VS Code for Embedded Linux development, with no assumptions about your familiarity with it. We will demo basic VS Code usage as well as show several useful plugins that can make your life easier, such as:
- Remote SSH access
- Integrated version control using Git
- Language-specific syntax highlighting and code navigation
- Remote source-level debugging of Embedded Linux applications
Finally, we will demo a real-world Embedded Linux system using VS Code. By the end of this talk, developers will have a toolbox of skills and knowledge to boost their productivity and reduce development time.
What is the main purpose of using Dev Containers in Visual Studio Code for Embedded Linux projects, as described in the talk?
Hi Simon,
Glad to hear. I'm not going to lie, I still use separate command line windows and my Emacs editor quite frequently. There are way too many years of muscle memory for me to replace it entirely. But I think there is definitely room for both. I am glad I don't have to use Notepad++ though
Drew
Thanks for the presentation!
It is a while back I played around with launch configs, but I seem to remember being able to override the standard commands issued by vscode by using customLaunchSetupCommands.
Btw. For some reason, copilot decided to mix javascript and python in the same file .py file. That's next level :)
Next level or insane; I'm not sure which.
Excellent presentation Drew!
Thanks for watching. Hope it was useful.
Hi Drew,
that was a fast paced tutorial, fantastic. I wasn't even aware of some VSCode features you presented, like the remote debugging capabilities and more. I looked up Toradex for a TI AM62 SoM last year, but couldn't find the correct starting point. Can you point me to some initial setup on how to get started, maybe some sort of documentation? Thank you for this great talk!
Thomas
Hello Thomas,
Glad you liked the talk. I hope it wasn't too fast paced but there was a lot to cover and a lot I didn't get to cover.
As for working with the Toradex hardware, the easiest way is to use our Torizon OS and our Quick Start.: https://developer.toradex.com/quickstart/
That should get you started relatively quickly with all the major workflows needed.
If you are looking for something else, drop me a note at drew.moseley@toradex.com and I will do what I can to help.
Drew
Thanks Drew, that was really interesting and useful. I've only just started using VSCode and find it complicated and cluttered. I guess I'm still used to Notepad++ and separate command line.