Google Introduces VS Code-Based IDE, Project IDX
August 9, 2023 Alex Woodie
Google this week took the covers off Project IDX, a new integrated development environment (IDE) based on Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code that’s designed to assist developers in creating full-stack, multiplatform applications with pre-built integrations to AI models.
Google’s new Project IDX, which is based on VS Code (via Code OSS), is a browser-based IDE that allows developers to create Web and mobile applications. Currently in preview, it’s designed to work with languages like JavaScript and Dart via Web application frameworks, such as Angular, Flutter, React, and Vue.js. Support for Python and Go languages is in the works, the company says.
Google says Project IDX will help make programmers more productive by stitching together a number of disparate technologies and providing a single, integrated way to boost, compile, test, deploy and monitor applications.
“These days, getting an app from zero to production – especially one that works well across mobile, web, and desktop platforms – can feel like building a Rube Goldberg machine,” Google engineers wrote in a blog. “You’ve got to navigate an endless sea of complexity, duct-taping together a tech stack…”
Project IDX is pre-integrated with large language models (LLMs) from Google, including PaLM 2 and Codey, Google’s AI programming assistant that provides smart code completion, code recommendation, as well as a chatbot to answer any programming questions.
As a browser-based IDE, Project IDX will enable users to develop “from anywhere, on any device, with the full fidelity of local development,” the company says. “Every Project IDX workspace has the full capabilities of a Linux-based VM, paired with the universal access that comes with being hosted in the cloud, in a datacenter near you.”
The IDE will include built-in multi-browser Web previews as well as an Android emulator and an iOS simulator, the company says.
The IBM i community has embraced browser-based development in recent years, and in particular, Microsoft’s extensible VS Code IDE. Liam Allan’s Code for IBM i, a VS Code plug-in that enables ILE language development, has proven to be quite popular, and IBM has even launched Merlin, which features an IDE based on Eclipse Theia, an open source version of VS Code.
Project IDX is still in early preview, and it’s unclear whether it will have the type of impact as VS Code has on the coding community. With support for an IBM i-supported language – Python – in the works, however, it’s worth keep an eye on.
