TIL: Setting Up VSCode For Java

I’m going to be taking a detour back off into java land for the next few weeks, trying to brush off the rust from 9 years and maybe actually learn a thing or two this time. Just to get me up and running quickly, I wanted to see if I couldn’t get VSCode working as a Java IDE so that I could start plucking away on sample problems. (The answer was yes)

VSCode actually makes it super easy to get up and running. They’ve actually already outlined a package specifically for Java development.

In the marketplace, you’ll find that there’s a Java Extension Pack plugin that contians pretty much everything you need to get going. It includes the base language support (which provides your basic auto complete, linting, etc), a debugger that allows you to run the programs straight from with vscode, a test runner that manages your JUnit test cases, and a project explorer that I don’t really understand yet.

Using this package I was able to get up and going after I had gotten Java installed on my machine (super easy on mac using brew, holy cow). So far my experience has been much more pleasant than I remembered it back in school. I remember feeling so overwhelmed by all of the buttons and options in Eclipse that I didn’t even know where to start.

Eventually I do plan on at least giving IntelliJ a go, but at least this gets me up and running today.

💚