Visual Studio 2005

Microsoft Visual Studio

Screenshot of Visual Studio 2013, editing a program's C++ source code
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Stable release	2015 Update 3 (June 27, 2016; 6 months ago (2016-06-27))
Preview release	2017 RC (November 16, 2016; 2 months ago (2016-11-16))
Written in	C++ and C#
Operating system	Windows 7 SP1 and later Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and later
Available in	Chinese, Czech, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish and Turkish
Type	Integrated development environment
License	Freemium
Website	visualstudio.com

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs for Microsoft Windows, as well as web sites, web applications and web services. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms such as Windows API, Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Store and Microsoft Silverlight. It can produce both native code and managed code.

Visual Studio includes a code editor supporting IntelliSense (the code completion component) as well as code refactoring. The integrated debugger works both as a source-level debugger and a machine-level debugger. Other built-in tools include a forms designer for building GUI applications, web designer, class designer, and database schema designer. It accepts plug-ins that enhance the functionality at almost every level—including adding support for source-control systems (like Subversion) and adding new toolsets like editors and visual designers for domain-specific languages or toolsets for other aspects of the software development lifecycle (like the Team Foundation Server client: Team Explorer).