Developers using Java tooling with Visual Studio Code now have a better 'Getting Started' experience thanks to new functionality in the September Java extensions update.

This Visual Studio Code for Java tutorial shows you how to install the Java extensions pack for VS Code, create a Java project and run a simple program.

To build along with this tutorial, you will need to have Java and Maven installed. You will also need the latest Visual Studio Code distribution for your system, if you don’t already have it.

The latest update of Java on Visual Studio Code is focused on improving the code editor's debugging and testing features.

With the Extension Pack for Java, VS Code makes a highly capable Java IDE and formidable competitor to Eclipse, NetBeans, and IntelliJ IDEA.

Today, the company launched a new project that makes it significantly easier to get started with writing Java on VS Code.