Visual Studio Code for Python Programmers

CHAPTER 4Managing Projects and Collaboration

Managing source code within the context of a project requires being able to navigate and maintain files, work within the appropriate Python environment, and maintain changes with source control. Each of these tasks is available in Visual Studio Code as either standard functionality or with the installation of an extension. In this chapter, the core features for managing projects are explored in a chatbot application created with the ChatBotAI library. (To learn more about the ChatBotAI library, visit pypi.org/project/chatbotAI.) The application uses the Wikipedia library to search for information from Wikipedia articles. (To learn more about the Wikipedia library, visit pypi.org/project/wikipedia/.) The exercises within this chapter are completed within the Wikipeida_Chatbot folder.

Files and Folders

In Visual Studio Code, working with files and folders goes beyond simply accessing a file. You can open a complete project in the editor and manage multiple files across subfolders simultaneously. Once a project is opened in the editor, Visual Studio Code provides helpful features for navigating and searching across folders. The Explorer view displays the contents of an opened project, thus providing easy access to manage and open files in the editor.

Open a Project

To manage a project in Visual Studio Code, first open its folder in the editor using one of these methods:

• External terminal: Navigate to the location of the folder ...