Day 3 — VS Code Setup#

Goal: Set up VS Code as your primary code editor with the right extensions, terminal integration, and settings so you can write, run, and debug Python efficiently.

What Is VS Code?#

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free, lightweight code editor by Microsoft. It’s the most popular editor among developers because:

• It works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• It has a built-in terminal
• It has thousands of extensions for every language
• It connects to WSL2, remote servers, and containers
• It has great Git integration built-in

VS Code is not the same as Visual Studio (which is a full IDE). VS Code is lighter and more flexible.

Opening VS Code#

From the terminal (recommended)#

# Open VS Code in the current directory:
code .

# Open a specific file:
code main.py

# Open a specific folder:
code ~/projects/tds/

WSL2 users#

When you run code . from inside WSL, VS Code opens on the Windows side but connects to your Linux filesystem. You should see “WSL: Ubuntu” in the bottom-left corner.

# From WSL terminal:
cd ~/projects/tds
code .
# VS Code opens, connected to WSL — bottom-left shows "WSL: Ubuntu"

The VS Code Interface#

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Menu Bar  (File, Edit, View, ...)                      │
├────┬──────────────────────────────────────┬────────────┤
│    │                                      │            │
│ S  │    Editor Area                       │  Minimap   │
│ i  │    (where you write code)            │            │
│ d  │                                      │            │
│ e  │                                      │            │
│    │                                      │            │
│ B  │                                      │            │
│ a  │                                      │            │
│ r  │──────────────────────────────────────│            │
│    │    Terminal Panel                    │            │
│    │    $ _                               │            │
├────┴──────────────────────────────────────┴────────────┤
│ Status Bar (branch, errors, encoding, line/col)        │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Key areas#

Essential Keyboard Shortcuts#

Learn these first — they save hours:

Tip: The most important shortcut is Ctrl + Shift + P (Command Palette). If you forget anything, open it and search.

Essential Extensions#

Open the Extensions panel (Ctrl + Shift + X) and install these:

Must-have#

Highly recommended#

Install from terminal#

# You can also install extensions from the command line:
code --install-extension ms-python.python
code --install-extension ms-python.vscode-pylance
code --install-extension ms-toolsai.jupyter

Settings You Should Configure#

Open settings: Ctrl + , (or File → Preferences → Settings)

Key settings#

{
    "editor.fontSize": 14,
    "editor.tabSize": 4,
    "editor.formatOnSave": true,
    "editor.wordWrap": "on",
    "editor.minimap.enabled": true,
    "editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": true,
    "files.autoSave": "afterDelay",
    "files.autoSaveDelay": 1000,
    "terminal.integrated.defaultProfile.linux": "bash",
    "python.defaultInterpreterPath": "python3"
}

To edit as JSON: Ctrl + Shift + P → “Preferences: Open User Settings (JSON)”

The Integrated Terminal#

VS Code has a built-in terminal that runs inside the editor. This is where you’ll run most commands.

Open it#

• Shortcut: Ctrl + ` (backtick)
• Menu: Terminal → New Terminal

Multiple terminals#

# Click the + button to create new terminals
# Click the dropdown to switch between them
# Right-click a terminal tab to rename it

Split terminals#

# Ctrl + Shift + 5 — split the terminal panel
# Useful for running a server in one terminal and testing in another

WSL terminal#

If you’re on Windows, make sure your default terminal profile is set to Ubuntu (WSL):

Ctrl + Shift + P → “Terminal: Select Default Profile” → Choose “Ubuntu (WSL)”

🧠 Knowledge Check#

Q1: How can you open the integrated terminal in VS Code?

• A) Ctrl + T
• B) Ctrl + ` (backtick)
• C) Alt + T
• D) Ctrl + Shift + T

Running Python in VS Code#

Method 1: Terminal#

# In the integrated terminal:
python3 script.py

Method 2: Run button#

• Open a .py file
• Click the ▶ Run button (top right)
• Or press Ctrl + F5 (Run Without Debugging)

Method 3: Debug mode#

• Set breakpoints by clicking in the gutter (left of line numbers)
• Press F5 to start debugging
• Step through code, inspect variables

Method 4: Jupyter Notebook#

• Create a file with .ipynb extension
• Or create a .py file with # %% cell markers:

# %% Cell 1
print("This is cell 1")
x = 42

# %% Cell 2
print(f"x = {x}")

Each # %% creates a runnable cell. Click “Run Cell” above each cell.

Multi-Cursor Editing — A Superpower#

Multi-cursor lets you edit multiple lines simultaneously:

# 1. Alt + Click — add cursors at specific positions
# 2. Ctrl + D — select the current word, then next occurrence
# 3. Ctrl + Shift + L — select ALL occurrences of current selection

Example#

You have:

name = "alice"
print(name)
greeting = "hello " + name

Want to rename name to username everywhere? Select name, press Ctrl + D repeatedly to select each occurrence, then type username. All change at once.

🧠 Knowledge Check#

Q1: You want to change all occurrences of the variable count to total in your current file. What’s the fastest way using multi-cursor editing?

• A) Use backspace and type the new word manually everywhere
• B) Select count, press Ctrl + Shift + L to select all occurrences, then type total
• C) Press Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V
• D) Use Ctrl + F and hit enter

Q&A#

Exercises#

Exercise 1: Open a project in VS Code

mkdir -p ~/tds-bootcamp/day-3
cd ~/tds-bootcamp/day-3
code .

In the terminal inside VS Code, create a file:

echo 'print("VS Code works!")' > test.py

Run it using the terminal:

python3 test.py

VS Code works!

Exercise 2: Keyboard shortcut practice

Open test.py in the editor and practice these:

1. Ctrl + Shift + P — open Command Palette, search “Toggle Word Wrap”
2. Ctrl + G — go to line 1
3. Ctrl + D — select the word “print”
4. Ctrl + ` — toggle the terminal panel
5. Ctrl + / — comment out the line, then uncomment it

Exercise 3: Install extensions

Install the Python extension from the terminal:

code --install-extension ms-python.python

Then verify it’s installed:

code --list-extensions | grep -i python

ms-python.python
ms-python.vscode-pylance

Exercise 4: MCQ

Q1: What does Ctrl + Shift + P open in VS Code?

• A) The terminal
• B) The settings
• C) The Command Palette
• D) The file explorer

Q2: You open VS Code from WSL and see “WSL: Ubuntu” in the bottom-left corner. What does this mean?

• A) VS Code is running inside Ubuntu
• B) VS Code on Windows is connected to your WSL Linux filesystem
• C) Ubuntu is not installed correctly
• D) You need to switch to PowerShell