In other words, the app is now a robust code editor designed to cater for what most developers using Mac code protocol might want to do. A lot has changed since its early days and extra support has been added for F#, Razor, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript, XAML, and XML. When it was first released, the primary function of Microsoft Visual Studio for Mac was to enable Mac code fanatics to creative native mobile apps using C# and. You’ll find out more useful tips below on using Visual Studio for Mac in 2020, with information on how it stacks up against Xcode for Mac and various other alternatives that might even make you want to move away from Visual Studio on Mac. The question is has this been enough to change public perception of the app to make it a true Xcode Mac competitor? These included improved functionality for. In the years that followed, Visual Studio for Mac has undergone various tweaks and improvements. Initially, they weren’t far off the mark. In 2017 Microsoft released Visual Studio for Mac, although many users wondered whether it would turn out to be a reskinned version of Xamarin Studio Xamarin had been acquired by Microsoft just one year earlier.

There are plenty of code editing options out there for developers who use Apple products - Xcode Mac being one notable example - but, up until a few years ago, Visual Studio wasn’t one of them.