A full-fledged Markdown Language Server and expanded codecs support also debut in the latest version of the Microsoft code editor. Credit: Joyseulay / Shutterstock Visual Studio Code 1.71, the latest version of Microsoft’s popular code editor, introduces an easier transition between the text and merge editors, among a host of other improvements. Released September 1, Visual Studio Code 1.71 also is known as the August 2022 release. Thanks to the merge editor improvements, a file that has a conflict now will automatically show an “Open in Merge Editor” button, enabling a swift transition between the text and merge editors. Also, VS Code no longer modifies the result file when opening it in the merge editor. Rather, the conflict markers remain in the file but are hidden in the result view. Check boxes allow you to replace the conflict markers with either side, a combination of both sides, or with the base. Visual Studio Code can be downloaded for Windows, Linux, and Mac from the project website. Other new features and improvements in Visual Studio Code 1.71: Markdown support has been reimplemented as a full-featured Language Server. To expand codecs support, VS Code’s FFmpeg shared library, which previously supported only the FLAC codec, now also supports codecs including Vorbis, H.264, VP8, WAV, MP3, and Ogg. This will allow more audio files to be played from notebooks or via extensions that embed audio and video into webviews. After initiating a rename action on a file, pressing the F2 key will cycle through the file name, entire selection, and file selection to allow more flexible keyboard-only interaction. The Code Action control has been overhauled. Instead of a simple menu of Code Actions, a custom control now is in place to make it easier to find a desired Code Action. All buttons have been updated to have slightly rounded corners to better match the design aesthetic. Fish shell integration and Git bash for Windows shell integration are available as experimental manual installs. The terminal now supports smooth scrolling, to animate scrolling for a short time to help see location after scrolling. The editor now ships with TypeScript 4.8.2, with improvements for type checking and inference. Visual Studio Code 1.70, with title bar and Git-related improvements, shipped on August 4. Development ToolsSoftware Development