Issue #33  (JSON Settings Split View)12/07/22

As you know, inside of any code editor, you have the option to turn word wrap off or on. Most editors default to word wrap "off" (such as in VS Code), and a lot of developers prefer to keep it this way.

Personally, since I mostly do front-end development, I find it's much easier for me to digest code with word wrap on. HTML is especially better this way and I don't really find any benefit to having it off for JavaScript either.

As with many things in VS Code, you do have some options outside of simply turning it on and off. If you search for "word wrap" in your settings, you'll notice there are a few different settings you can tweak. The main word wrap option has four possible values:
 
As you can see, in addition to the "off" and "on" values, there are:

• wordWrapColumn
• bounded

The wordWrapColumn value works along with another setting that appears in your search. This setting, itself called "Word Wrap Column", allows you to define where you want the lines to wrap. This means you can have your window width at a large size but the actual word wrapping doesn't occur at the window edge but instead will wrap at whatever line you define for this setting.


 

The result is something like what's shown in the following image. Notice the word wrapping occurs well before the edge of the editor viewport:



Finally, the bounded option might be the more intuitive one to use if you like constraining the wrapping to a specific column number. For example, if you use wordWrapColumn and choose "120" as the wrapping point but your viewport size is smaller than 120, you'll get horizontal scrollbars in your editor.

If you prefer that the editor viewport size determines the minimum point where the word wrapping occurs, then you should choose your custom value along with the bounded option. This will ensure that your lines will wrap at any viewport size smaller than or equal to your custom value for the "Word Wrap Column" setting.

It works kind of like a responsive website layout where you never get horizontal scrollbars on small screens and you also have a max width defined for larger screens.

Now on to this week's hand-picked links!
 

VS Code Tools

In Your Face — This is up there as one of the silliest VS Code extensions you'll find. It shows you 'ouch faces' from Mr. Incredible (from the movie The Incredibles) that correlate to the number of errors in your code.

AppMap — Extension for VS Code or JetBrains that runs code analysis to allow you to visualize your runtime code, identify problems, and find solutions right in your editor.

Tabnine — Popular extension for multiple IDEs that provides AI-based autocomplete for JavaScript, Python, Typescript, PHP, Go, Java, Ruby, and more.

ENV — VS Code extension that adds formatting and syntax highlighting support for .env files.

VS Code Articles & Videos

 ▶ VS Code Tips — Hiding Editor Toolbar Buttons — Quick video tip on how to hide toolbar buttons, in case you weren't aware they were removable (spoiler: just right-click them and uncheck/check as needed).

Using Python in VS Code and Codium — This is more specific to Codium, the version of VS Code that excludes Microsoft's branding and telemetry.

Switching from Emacs to VSCode — This is a Reddit post from Lex Fridman on his subreddit where he briefly describes why he switched after using Emacs for many years.

It's Time To Rethink Your Media Diet — There’s a reason our friends at The Daily Upside are the fastest growing finance newsletter in the country. See why 750k+ readers trust their expert team for crisp, easy-to-read market insights – free, always.  Sponsor 

Best of the Rest

Python Sandbox — An online tool to run and share Python code, similar to tools like CodePen and CodeSandbox.

Build Your Own Text Editor — An instruction booklet that shows you how to build a text editor in C, the end result being about 1000 lines of code.

Coming Home to Vim — This article is from 2010 but a lengthy one. If you're a Vim user, it might be an interesting read in terms of its relevance today.

Suggestions?

If you have any link suggestions, including a tool, article, or other resources related to VS Code or another IDE, send it via DM on X: @LouisLazaris or just hit reply on this email.

That's it for this issue.

Happy VS Coding!
Louis
VSCode.Email
@LouisLazaris