VS Code profiles

[awdeorio]

VS Code profiles make it possible to install extensions, configure launch.json, disable AI settings and more.

@kyukibug had a conversation about the idea today.

This idea is related to #242, but the ideas are not mutually exclusive.

[kyukibug]

I created a simple VSCode Profile for MacOS here:

• Extensions: Microsoft C/C++ and CodeLLDB
• Disabled AI Features
• Disabled LLDB's "show disassembly" setting

After some investigating, the launch.json cannot be baked into the VSCode Profile itself as it lives within the .vscode workspace folder.

If including a launch.json in a more streamlined way is something we'd still want to pursue, I could investigate further for alternatives.

[hardy-ethan]

If including a launch.json in a more streamlined way is something we'd still want to pursue, I could investigate further for alternatives.

making an extension that provides launch files is somewhat simple. could do that and bundle it with the profile

[jamesjuett]

This is an interesting idea!

It looks like the install workflow would be:

1. Install VS Code
2. Preferences > Profiles
3. New Profile Dropdown > Import Profile...
4. Enter a URL where we host the profile.
5. Click "Create Profile" (takes a moment)
6. Check "Use for New Windows"
7. (Assuming they're doing this in the context of EECS 280 p1 setup, also select to use it for the current window.

Here's some pros/cons that I can think of:

Pro

• Packages several parts of initial setup (extensions, disable AI features) together into a single "import profile" step.
• Easier to ensure students get the right set of extensions for EECS 280.
• It's "non-optional" to disable AI, since it's bundled with the profile. (Students would have to explicitly re-enable.)

Con

• Configuration is more opaque to students (i.e. they don't get practice installing extensions)
• Need to maintain separate profiles for Mac/Windows and update them e.g. if extensions change. But we already have to update parts of the tutorial if this happens, so this is not new.
• Students could get on the wrong profile (but IMO this is pretty much mitigated by making the EECS 280 profile the default for new windows).

I did preliminary testing on a couple things, but someone else would want to verify if we go forward:

• For Windows+WSL specifically, it looks like profiles are automatically synced between Windows and WSL mode.
• Extensions are specified by the profile, but not locked to specific versions. Extensions will still update automatically when a new version is out.

[jamesjuett]

I think this is mostly orthogonal to #242 and whether a launch.json is provided. But, if we decided that we want to provide one and do it via an "EECS 280 extension", that could be bundled with a profile.

[kyukibug]

@awdeorio and I had a short discussion about if this removes part of the "productive struggle" for students to learn about the setup.

I helped a lot of students in our dedicated Setup OH at the beginning of the sem and noticed that it felt like students had a brittle understanding of what they were doing, where when they hit a slight deviation, they got super lost and weren't too sure about how to solve it. To me, the learning opportunity we could be taking away wouldn't outweigh the convenience to students and staff. But, would love to hear any other opinions...

[jamesjuett]

IMO it really just comes down to what you are automating away with profiles. I think the main things here are:

• Installing extensions
• Disabling AI features

My opinion is that those aren't the places where most productive struggle occurs (as opposed to command line, compilation, debugging, etc.).

I'm not sure how much more convenient the profiles really are, but increased hit rate on turning off AI feels pretty compelling.

[awdeorio]

It sounds like there's a enough support to give this idea a try. How about posting a PR @kyukibug and then maybe @hardy-ethan can chime in with suggestions for integrating launch.json into the profile.

P.S. I really agree with @jamesjuett 's point

... increased hit rate on turning off AI feels pretty compelling