Visual Studio
| Visual Studio | |
|---|---|
Logo used since 2021 | |
Landing page of Visual Studio 2010 on Windows 7 | |
| Developer(s) | Microsoft |
| Stable release | 2022 17.14.15[1]
/ September 16, 2025 |
| Written in | [2] |
| Operating system |
|
| Available in | 13 languages |
List of languages Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish and Turkish[4] | |
| Type | Integrated development environment |
| License | Freemium[5] Proprietary |
| Website | visualstudio |
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) developed by Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms including Windows API, Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Microsoft Store and Microsoft Silverlight. It can produce both native code and managed code.
Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense (the code completion component) as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger works as both a source-level debugger and as a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a code profiler, designer for building GUI applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema designer. It accepts plug-ins that expand the functionality at almost every level—including adding support for source control systems (like Subversion and Git) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Azure DevOps client: Team Explorer).
Visual Studio supports 36 different programming languages and allows the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists. Built-in languages include C,[6] C++, C++/CLI, Visual Basic .NET, C#, F#,[7] JavaScript, TypeScript, XML, XSLT, HTML, and CSS. Support for other languages such as Python,[8] Ruby, Node.js, and M among others is available via plug-ins. Java (and J#) were supported in the past.
The most basic edition of Visual Studio, the Community edition, is available free of charge. The slogan for Visual Studio Community edition is "Free, fully-featured IDE for students, open-source and individual developers". As of March 23, 2025, Visual Studio 2022 is a current production-ready version. A new version of Visual Studio 2026 is currently in development and available for testing via the new Insiders channel which replaces the Preview channel. Visual Studio 2026 Insiders was released on September 9th, 2025. Visual Studio 2015, 2017 and 2019 are on Extended Support.[9]
- ^ "Visual Studio 2022 Release Notes". September 16, 2025.
- ^ Copsey, Reed Jr. (December 13, 2011). "Which language is Visual Studio developed in?". Microsoft Developer Network. Archived from the original on February 13, 2023. Retrieved December 10, 2022.
- ^ "Visual Studio 2022 Product Family System Requirements". Microsoft. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
- ^ "Microsoft Visual Studio 2015 Language Pack". Microsoft. Archived from the original on September 12, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2016.
- ^ "Visual Studio Downloads". Visual Studio. Microsoft. Archived from the original on December 26, 2018. Retrieved November 23, 2013.
- ^ Brenner, Pat (July 19, 2013). "C99 library support in Visual Studio 2013". Visual C++ Team Blog. Microsoft. Archived from the original on August 5, 2014. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
- ^ "F# at Microsoft Research". Microsoft. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved July 22, 2019.
- ^ "Best Python IDE For Python Programming". Pythonic Quest. January 13, 2017. Archived from the original on January 18, 2017. Retrieved January 17, 2017.
- ^ "Visual Studio Product Lifecycle and Servicing". Microsoft Docs. January 22, 2025. Retrieved July 21, 2025.