Python in Visual Studio Code December 2020 Release

We are happy to announce that the December2020release of the Python Extension for Visual Studio Code is now available. You can download the Python extension from theMarketplace, orinstall it directly from the extension gallery in Visual Studio Code. If you already have the Python extension installed, you can also get the latest update by restartingVisualStudio Code. You can learn moreabout Python support in Visual Studio Code in the documentation.

In this release we closed13issues,and itincludes:

• Extract method and variable code actions with Pylance
• Pylanceinsidersprogram
• Ipywidgetssupport in Native Notebooks

If youre interested, you can check thefull list of improvements inourchangelog.

PylanceExtractMethod & VariableCodeActions

We are excited to announce that extract code actionsare availableinPylance2020.12.2or later!These new code actionsallow you to highlight lines of code and automaticallyrefactor and extractthem into new methods or variablesat the click of a button!If you still havent given our new language server a try,youcandownload it from the marketplaceor simply setpython.languageServer: “Pylance”in yoursettings.jsonand we will prompt you to install it!

[Method extraction with Pylance in VS Code.]

[Variable extraction with Pylance in VS Code.]

PylanceInsiders

Pylancenow features anInsiders program, which offers early access to newlanguage serverfeatures and improvements. To enable insiders, set “pylance.insidersChannel“: “daily”. This will enable a daily check for new builds. At startup or when the insiders setting is changed,Pylancewill automatically update and prompt you to reload. To leave the insiders program, remove the setting, or explicitly set “pylance.insidersChannel“: “off”. You may be prompted to downgrade your extension to the latest stable version.

[Image Dec2020 PylanceInsiders]

IpywidgetSupport in Native Notebooks

TheJupyterExtension now supportsipywidgetsin our Native Notebooks experience in VS Code Insiders!This means that you can now bring all your favorite interactive plotting libraries such asbeakerX,bqplot, and many more, to visualize and interact with data in our Insiders experience.

[Ipywidget rendering on a Jupyter notebook in VS Code Insiders.]

Other Changes and Enhancements

We have also added small enhancements and fixed issues requested by users that should improve your experience working with Python inVisualStudio Code. Some notable changes include:

• Completion suggestions are now matched more fuzzily. (pylance-release#608)
• Fix for __file__ variable not set after restarting kernel in the interactive window. (vscode-jupyter#1373)
• Format.pyifiles correctly when using Black. (thanksSteve Dignam!) (#13341)
• Modified the errors generated whenlaunch.jsonis not properly configured to be more specific about which fields are missing. (thanksShahzaib Paracha!) (#14739)

Were constantlyA/B testingnew features. If you see something different that was not announced by the team, you may be part of the experiment! To see if you are part of an experiment, you can check the first lines in the Python extension output channel. If you wish to opt-outofA/B testing, you can open the usersettings.jsonfile (View>Command Palette…and runPreferences: Open Settings (JSON))and set the “python.experiments.enabled”setting tofalse.

Be sure to download the Python extension forVisualStudio Code now to try out the above improvements. If you run into any problemsor have suggestions, please file an issue on the Python VS Code GitHub page.