Python in Visual Studio Code – May 2019 Release

Luciana

May 28th, 2019

We are pleased to announce that the May 2019 release of the Python Extension for Visual Studio Code is now available. You can download the Python extension from the Marketplace, or install it directly from the extension gallery in Visual Studio Code. You can learn more about Python support in Visual Studio Code in the documentation.

In this release we made improvements that are listed in our changelog, closing a total of 42 issues including IntelliSense in the Python Interactive Window and additional improvements to the Python Language Server.

IntelliSense in the Python Interactive Window

The Python Interactive window, our built-in IPython Console, is now enhanced with full-fledged IntelliSense – code completion, member lists, quick info for methods, and parameter hints! Now, you can be just as productive typing in the Python Interactive window as you would in the code editor.

Additional improvements to the Python Language Server

This release includes bug fixes and enhancements to the “Find All References “ and ”Go to Definition” features, such as handling of relative imports. We also made continued improvements to the Python Language Server’s loading time, CPU and memory usage. We’re working hard on decreasing memory consumption, so if you run into problems, please provide more details on the Python Language Server GitHub page or directly on the “high memory usage” issue page.

As a reminder, to opt into the Language Server, change the python.jediEnabled setting to false in File > Preferences > User Settings. We are working towards making the language server the default in the next few releases.

In case you missed it: Remote Development

On May 2nd the Microsoft’s Python and Visual Studio Code teams announced the Remote Development extensions for Visual Studio Code, which allows developers to run, setup and develop their projects inside docker containers, remote SSH hosts and Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). It’s all running remotely: auto-completions, debugging, terminal, source control, additional extensions you install and more, but you get the same experience as if it was running locally.

Check out the Remote Python Development in Visual Studio Code blog post to learn more and get started!

Other Changes and Enhancements

We have also added small enhancements and fixed issues requested by users that should improve your experience working with Python in Visual Studio Code. Some notable changes include:

Allow column sorting in variable explorer (#5281)

Use the correct activation script for conda environments (#4402)

Always show pytest’s output when it fails. (#5313)

Fix performance issues with long collections and variable explorer (#5511)

Update ptvsd to 4.2.10.

Be sure to download the Python extension for Visual Studio Code now to try out the above improvements. If you run into any problems, please file an issue on the Python VS Code GitHub page.