How different is it from Visual Studio's default features and Intellisense?

Visual Assist and the built in Intellisense tooling share a few common features. Where we share features, VA frequently operate much faster and do a better job of giving you the correct results (e.g. finding more references that Visual Studio would miss). Also, the Visual Studio UI can arguably complicate some dialog boxes for simple tasks. An example is the Visual Studio unified search, which operates like the search bar in the operating system wherein everything is shown. In contrast, VA uses different search dialogs for each type of search, each with features specific to that kind of search and without displaying results you aren't interested in.

What support does Visual Assist provide?

Visual Assist (VA) is a coding productivity plugin for C++ and C# developers who work in Visual Studio. Visual Assist has its own code parser, separate from the built in Intellisense parser. This provides all of the features one would expect from a modern IDE and many more. These features include tools for Navigation, Refactoring, Debugging Assistance and Automatic Code Modernization with Code Inspections. VA also offer special support and tooling for Unreal Engine, Unity, Graphics Card "Shaders" and CUDA.

Are there special ways for students and teachers to use VA in education/academia?

Yes! We have special licenses for students and teachers. Visit this page to learn more .

How will the long-term benefits outweigh the initial cost?

As with any tool, how useful it is depends on how much you intend to use it. VA enhances productivity by improving Visual Studio's default features or by adding new ones absent from the IDE. Some users focus on a few features, while some take the time to try out all the features. There are many options available to you with all of them aimed at making you code faster, easier, and making the experience less frustrating. Read this blog to learn more about the value VA provides

What kind of developers benefit from using Visual Assist?

Developers using Microsoft's Visual Studio to develop and code using C, C# and C++ will benefit from using VA. There has been a focus on C++ game development (Unreal Engine) wherein the added support and tooling is most needed. Recent updates have also added support and tooling for Unity Engine, Graphics Card "Shaders" and CUDA development.

Visual Assist Blog - C++ Tips, Release Notes & Developer Guides

Build Announcements

Visual Assist 2023.4 now released

By Tristan Soliven

August 17, 2023

VA 2023.4 is now published and is now available to download! This release marks a major milestone in Visual Assist’s history as it starts its official support for Unity engine development. Also in this release: start of support for CUDA development for C/C++ and numerous parser improvements. Read on further to get the complete details of the changes and improvements in this release. Start of…

Tips and Tricks Webinar Recap

Summer CodeFest: What the Hex? Ports and Adapters Architecture with C++ [Recap]

By Tristan Soliven

August 15, 2023

TL;DR As applications grow in size, poor design decisions can lead to increasing complexity, maintenance problems and bottlenecks in testing. In this Summer CodeFest session, we will learn how Hexagonal (Ports and Adapters) Architecture can help developers to build more…

Tips and Tricks Webinar Recap

Summer CodeFest: Next-Level Concurrency: Enhancing Scalability with C++20 [Recap]

By Tristan Soliven

August 4, 2023

This session has concluded watch the replay or download the slides below. The first Summer CodeFest presentation has concluded! Whole Tomato’s very own lead developer Chris Gardner lead the first session on enhancing your program’s scalability with concurrency…

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Summer CodeFest: C++ coding camp hosted by Whole Tomato

By Tristan Soliven

July 20, 2023

CodeFest happened on August 17th, 2023. Registration is not available now. Stay tuned and find out when next CodeFest begins! Get ready to unwind with Whole Tomato at our first Summer C++ CodeFest! Join us for two weeks of laid-back learning, collaboration, and coding sessions. Expand your C++ coding skills and ignite your passion for coding in a join-when-you-can environment. Why this virtual…

Tips and Tricks

Everything you need to know about code inspections

By Tristan Soliven

June 13, 2023

By now you might have heard about Visual Assist’s code inspections—it has been a staple of almost all recent updates and we hosted two webinars discussing it. This article sums it all in an easy to read and convenient way. What are code inspections? Code inspections is a…

Webinar Recap

Tapping into Limitless Code Inspections: What's New in Visual Assist 2023.2 [Webinar Recap]

By Tristan Soliven

June 1, 2023

In this webinar, we’re talking about Visual Assist 2023.2 and its exciting new features. Learn more about the improved shader extension support and greatly expanded code inspections. Create more advanced and realistic graphics, utilize limitless code inspections, and write…

Tips and Tricks

AI for Development: What Do We Expect?

By David Millington

May 24, 2023

TLDR AI already helps developers write, debug and optimize code, but cloud-based tools continue to raise concerns about privacy, cost and source code security. As AI models become more efficient, it should become more and more practical to have locally hosted solutions trained on a company’s own codebase. These private AI assistants can provide more relevant, project-specific recommendations…

Build Announcements

Visual Assist 2023.2 released

By Tristan Soliven

May 17, 2023

The second update to Visual Assist in 2023 is here. This update features an extensive series of upgrades to code inspections, shader extension support, and a number of quality fixes to the IDE. Download the latest version of Visual Assist now. Greatly expanded code…

Tips and Tricks Webinar Recap

Eliminating Code Smells with Visual Assist Code Inspection [Webinar Recap]

By Tristan Soliven

March 10, 2023

Learn how to enforce coding standards, avoid common coding errors, and improve your code’s overall readability and maintainability with Visual Assist’s code inspections. Whether you are a seasoned developer or just starting, this webinar will provide you with the…

Tips and Tricks

C++ Refactoring Tips And Tricks

By Nataliia Fedchenko

February 23, 2023

TL;DR Refactoring C++ means restructuring an existing code, improving its design without changing its functionality. makes code easier to understand, maintain and extend, and reduces bugs, technical debt and performance issues. Refactoring is done to improve code that is difficult to read, duplicate logic, slow running software, and buggy software. These include writing automated tests before…

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Visual Assist 2023.4 now released

Summer CodeFest: What the Hex? Ports and Adapters Architecture with C++ [Recap]

Summer CodeFest: Next-Level Concurrency: Enhancing Scalability with C++20 [Recap]

Summer CodeFest: C++ coding camp hosted by Whole Tomato

Everything you need to know about code inspections

Tapping into Limitless Code Inspections: What's New in Visual Assist 2023.2 [Webinar Recap]

AI for Development: What Do We Expect?

Visual Assist 2023.2 released

Eliminating Code Smells with Visual Assist Code Inspection [Webinar Recap]

C++ Refactoring Tips And Tricks

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