.NET Rocks! Visual Studio Code AI with James Montemagno
Sep 25, 2025
In this discussion, James Montemagno, a Microsoft developer community lead, dives into AI's transformative role in coding with Visual Studio Code. He explores the differences in AI tooling between Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code, highlighting how each platform evolves. James compares various LLM models for coding tasks, shares best practices for using AI effectively, and discusses the concept of vibe coding—leveraging AI while maintaining human oversight. Discover practical insights on scaling AI usage and ensuring code validation!
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Different Update Cadences For VS Code And Visual Studio
- VS Code iterates faster and adopts AI-first features earlier than Visual Studio.
- Visual Studio focuses on deep IDE-specific integrations for large, legacy workloads.
A Year Of Shipping More Than Ever
- In 2025 James shipped more code than in his whole life by using AI across prototypes and production.
- Nearly none of the code was handwritten; he embraced prompt-first development and CI automation.
Models Behave Like Different Coworkers
- Different LLM families behave like different coworkers with distinct strengths and trade-offs.
- GPT variants are fast and task-focused while Claude/Sonnet models explore more context and produce ambitious, broader changes.