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GitLab vs Visual Studio Code: What are the differences?
Introduction
GitLab and Visual Studio Code are both widely used tools in the software development industry. While they serve different purposes, there are several key differences between the two. In this article, we will explore these differences in detail.
Integration with Version Control Systems: GitLab is a web-based Git repository manager that provides a complete DevOps platform, allowing teams to collaborate on code, manage repositories, and automate CI/CD pipelines. On the other hand, Visual Studio Code is a lightweight source code editor that offers seamless integration with various version control systems, including Git. While GitLab provides a comprehensive platform for managing code repositories, Visual Studio Code focuses primarily on code editing and version control integration.
Development Environment: GitLab offers a built-in development environment, known as the GitLab Development Kit (GDK), which allows developers to set up a complete development environment with all the necessary tools and dependencies. In contrast, Visual Studio Code is primarily a code editor and allows developers to customize their development environment by installing extensions for specific languages or frameworks. GitLab provides a more integrated and streamlined development environment, while Visual Studio Code offers flexibility and customization options.
Collaboration and Project Management: GitLab provides features for collaboration and project management, including issue tracking, project boards, and merge request management. It offers a centralized platform for teams to collaborate on code, track project progress, and manage development workflows. Visual Studio Code, on the other hand, focuses primarily on individual code editing and does not provide built-in features for project management or collaboration. It is often used in conjunction with other tools, such as GitLab, for team collaboration and project management.
Extensions and Customization: Visual Studio Code offers a wide range of extensions that can be installed to enhance its functionality and support various programming languages and frameworks. These extensions provide additional features, such as code linting, debugging, and integrated terminals. GitLab, being a web-based platform, does not offer the same level of customization and extension support as Visual Studio Code. While GitLab provides a comprehensive set of features, it may not have the same level of flexibility for customization as Visual Studio Code.
Deployment and Infrastructure Management: GitLab provides built-in features for continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD), allowing teams to automate the build, test, and deployment processes. It also offers Kubernetes integration for managing containerized applications. Visual Studio Code, on the other hand, focuses primarily on code editing and does not provide built-in features for deployment or infrastructure management. It is typically used in conjunction with other tools, such as GitLab's CI/CD pipelines or cloud platforms like Azure, for deploying and managing applications.
Accessibility and Platform Support: Visual Studio Code is a cross-platform code editor and is available on Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. It provides a consistent experience across different platforms and can be easily set up on various environments. GitLab, being a web-based platform, is accessible from any device with a web browser and an internet connection. It does not require any installation or setup on individual machines. GitLab offers more accessibility and platform independence compared to Visual Studio Code.
In summary, GitLab is a comprehensive web-based platform for code management, collaboration, and CI/CD, providing a complete DevOps solution. Visual Studio Code, on the other hand, is a lightweight code editor with seamless version control integration and extensive customization options. While GitLab focuses on providing an integrated development environment and project management features, Visual Studio Code offers flexibility and customization for developers.
I first used BitBucket because it had private repo's, and it didn't disappoint me. Also with the smooth integration of Jira, the decision to use BitBucket as a full application maintenance service was as easy as 1, 2, 3.
I honestly love BitBucket, by the looks, by the UI, and the smooth integration with Tower.
Lightweight and versatile. Huge library of extensions that enable you to integrate a host of services to your development environment. VS Code's biggest strength is its library of extensions which enables it to directly compete with every single major IDE for almost all major programming languages.
Do you review your Pull/Merge Request before assigning Reviewers?
If you work in a team opening a Pull Request (or Merge Request) looks appropriate. However, have you ever thought about opening a Pull/Merge Request when working by yourself? Here's a checklist of things you can review in your own:
- Pick the correct target branch
- Make Drafts explicit
- Name things properly
- Ask help for tools
- Remove the noise
- Fetch necessary data
- Understand Mergeability
- Pass the message
- Add screenshots
- Be found in the future
- Comment inline in your changes
Read the blog post for more detailed explanation for each item :D
What else do you review before asking for code review?
Using an inclusive language is crucial for fostering a diverse culture. Git has changed the naming conventions to be more language-inclusive, and so you should change. Our development tools, like GitHub and GitLab, already supports the change.
SourceLevel deals very nicely with repositories that changed the master branch to a more appropriate word. Besides, you can use the grep linter the look for exclusive terms contained in the source code.
As the inclusive language gap may happen in other aspects of our lives, have you already thought about them?
One of the magic tricks git performs is the ability to rewrite log history. You can do it in many ways, but git rebase -i
is the one I most use. With this command, It’s possible to switch commits order, remove a commit, squash two or more commits, or edit, for instance.
It’s particularly useful to run it before opening a pull request. It allows developers to “clean up” the mess and organize commits before submitting to review. If you follow the practice 3 and 4, then the list of commits should look very similar to a task list. It should reveal the rationale you had, telling the story of how you end up with that final code.
Visual Studio Code became famous over the past 3+ years I believe. The clean UI, easy to use UX and the plethora of integrations made it a very easy decision for us. Our gripe with Sublime was probably only the UX side. VSCode has not failed us till now, and still is able to support our development env without any significant effort.
Goland being paid, as well as built only for Go seemed like a significant limitation to not consider it.
Out of most of the VCS solutions out there, we found Gitlab was the most feature complete with a free community edition. Their DevSecops offering is also a very robust solution. Gitlab CI/CD was quite easy to setup and the direct integration with your VCS + CI/CD is also a bonus. Out of the box integration with major cloud providers, alerting through instant messages etc. are all extremely convenient. We push our CI/CD updates to MS Teams.
Gitlab as A LOT of features that GitHub and Azure DevOps are missing. Even if both GH and Azure are backed by Microsoft, GitLab being open source has a faster upgrade rate and the hosted by gitlab.com solution seems more appealing than anything else! Quick win: the UI is way better and the Pipeline is way easier to setup on GitLab!
I decided to choose VSCode over Sublime text for my Systems Programming class in C. What I love about VSCode is its awesome ability to add extensions. Intellisense is a beautiful debugger, and Remote SSH allows me to login and make real-time changes in VSCode to files on my university server. This is an awesome alternative to going back and forth on pushing/pulling code and logging into servers in the terminal. Great choice for anyone interested in C programming!
At DeployPlace we use self-hosted GitLab, we have chosen GitLab as most of us are familiar with it. We are happy with all features GitLab provides, I can’t imagine our life without integrated GitLab CI. Another important feature for us is integrated code review tool, we use it every day, we use merge requests, code reviews, branching. To be honest, most of us have GitHub accounts as well, we like to contribute in open source, and we want to be a part of the tech community, but lack of solutions from GitHub in the area of CI doesn’t let us chose it for our projects.
Pros of GitLab
- Self hosted508
- Free430
- Has community edition339
- Easy setup242
- Familiar interface240
- Includes many features, including ci137
- Nice UI113
- Good integration with gitlabci84
- Simple setup57
- Free private repository34
- Has an official mobile app34
- Continuous Integration31
- Open source, great ui (like github)22
- Slack Integration18
- Full CI flow14
- Free and unlimited private git repos11
- User, group, and project access management is simple10
- All in one (Git, CI, Agile..)9
- Built-in CI8
- Intuitive UI8
- Both public and private Repositories6
- Full DevOps suite with Git6
- Build/pipeline definition alongside code5
- CI5
- So easy to use5
- Integrated Docker Registry5
- It's powerful source code management tool5
- Issue system4
- Dockerized4
- Unlimited free repos & collaborators4
- Security and Stable4
- On-premises4
- It's fully integrated4
- Mattermost Chat client4
- Excellent4
- Great for team collaboration3
- Built-in Docker Registry3
- Low maintenance cost due omnibus-deployment3
- I like the its runners and executors feature3
- Free private repos3
- Because is the best remote host for git repositories3
- Not Microsoft Owned3
- Opensource3
- Groups of groups2
- Powerful software planning and maintaining tools2
- Review Apps feature2
- Kubernetes integration with GitLab CI2
- It includes everything I need, all packaged with docker2
- Multilingual interface2
- HipChat intergration2
- Powerful Continuous Integration System2
- One-click install through DigitalOcean2
- The dashboard with deployed environments2
- Native CI2
- Many private repo2
- Kubernetes Integration2
- Published IP list for whitelisting (gl-infra#434)2
- Wounderful2
- Beautiful2
- Supports Radius/Ldap & Browser Code Edits1
Pros of Visual Studio Code
- Powerful multilanguage IDE340
- Fast308
- Front-end develop out of the box193
- Support TypeScript IntelliSense158
- Very basic but free142
- Git integration126
- Intellisense106
- Faster than Atom78
- Better ui, easy plugins, and nice git integration53
- Great Refactoring Tools45
- Good Plugins44
- Terminal42
- Superb markdown support38
- Open Source36
- Extensions35
- Awesome UI26
- Large & up-to-date extension community26
- Powerful and fast24
- Portable22
- Best editor18
- Best code editor18
- Easy to get started with17
- Lots of extensions15
- Good for begginers15
- Crossplatform15
- Built on Electron15
- Open, cross-platform, fast, monthly updates14
- Extensions for everything14
- All Languages Support14
- Easy to use and learn13
- Extensible12
- "fast, stable & easy to use"12
- Ui design is great11
- Useful for begginer11
- Totally customizable11
- Git out of the box11
- Faster edit for slow computer11
- SSH support10
- Great community10
- Fast Startup10
- Great language support9
- It has terminal and there are lots of shortcuts in it9
- Works With Almost EveryThing You Need9
- Powerful Debugger9
- Can compile and run .py files8
- Python extension is fast8
- Great document formater7
- Features rich7
- He is not Michael6
- Awesome multi cursor support6
- She is not Rachel6
- Extension Echosystem6
- VSCode.pro Course makes it easy to learn5
- SFTP Workspace5
- Very proffesional5
- Language server client5
- Easy azure5
- Has better support and more extentions for debugging4
- Supports lots of operating systems4
- Virtualenv integration4
- Excellent as git difftool and mergetool4
- Emmet preinstalled3
- More tools to integrate with vs3
- Has more than enough languages for any developer3
- Better autocompletes than Atom3
- 'batteries included'3
- Microsoft2
- Light2
- Big extension marketplace2
- CMake support with autocomplete2
- Fast and ruby is built right in2
- VS Code Server: Browser version of VS Code2
- Customizable2
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Cons of GitLab
- Slow ui performance28
- Introduce breaking bugs every release8
- Insecure (no published IP list for whitelisting)6
- Built-in Docker Registry2
- Review Apps feature1
Cons of Visual Studio Code
- Slow startup46
- Resource hog at times29
- Poor refactoring20
- Poor UI Designer13
- Weak Ui design tools11
- Poor autocomplete10
- Super Slow8
- Huge cpu usage with few installed extension8
- Microsoft sends telemetry data8
- Poor in PHP7
- It's MicroSoft6
- Poor in Python3
- No Built in Browser Preview3
- No color Intergrator3
- Very basic for java development and buggy at times3
- No built in live Preview3
- Electron3
- Bad Plugin Architecture2
- Powered by Electron2
- Terminal does not identify path vars sometimes1
- Slow C++ Language Server1