Visual Studio is the official integrated development environment from Microsoft, a general purpose IDE that lets you implement, test, and compile all your applications and web projects. It supports a large number of programming languages and output platforms, whether for desktop programs, web applications, cloud-based services, or smartphone apps.

With it, you can work in C++, Python, HTML5, and JavaScript, or even standardized languages for Microsoft like C Sharp, Visual Basic, and F#. It also has several development support tools for the ASP.NET framework and Node.js. As for the environment itself, it includes all kinds of code detection tools, automatic indentation and autocomplete, as well as debugging options.

Since it's multiplatform, you can use it to create both web projects and applications for smartphones or tablets on iOS, Windows Phone, or Android systems. In fact, the latest versions of Visual Studio even include an emulator for the Google operating system so you can test your projects on virtual devices. Obviously, you can test by connecting physical devices, too, which can be set up with the installation wizard to integrate the SDK you need.

Visual Studio Community has the same features as the commercial professional edition, enabling you to create all types of projects, whether they're free or for-profit. The only catch is that its use is limited to non-business environments for teams of up to five people. Otherwise, your license is completely free and lets you install more than 1,500 extensions that make the tool even more useful.