What you need to know
- Visual Studio 2022 is here, having hit general availability on November 8, 2021.
- VS 2022 packs a wide variety of features and capabilities, including the AI-buffed IntelliCode code companion and Hot Reload.
- It's the first 64-bit Visual Studio release.
The day has finally come: Visual Studio 2022 is here for any and all who are interested. It entered general availability on November 8, 2021, and was given a lengthy launch event stream as part of its debut festivities, which can be viewed on Microsoft's Visual Studio YouTube channel.
As to what all the fuss is about: VS 2022 comes with many, many features and utilities. Two that Microsoft highlighted for this latest release are IntelliCode and Hot Reload. IntelliCode is an AI-aided helper that can write code for you and give helpful suggestions pertaining to what you write. Hot Reload offers the ability to make changes to your code and see them implemented right away, no redeployments necessary.
Hot Reload made a big appearance at VS 2022's launch event, and for good reason given the utility of the feature. However, you may remember it receiving prominent attention recently for other reasons. It was at the center of a controversy wherein Microsoft ruffled the open-source community by briefly making Hot Reload a VS 2022 exclusive. That decision lasted a whole three days before the company backtracked and tried to make amends without actually explaining why it did what it did in the first place.
Beyond Hot Reload and IntelliCode, Microsoft notes that "there are hundreds of other things under the hood that will help you" in Visual Studio 2022. You can find a full list of what's what in the product's release notes and associated documents.
