Involving integrated development environments (IDEs) in introductory-level (CS1) programming courses is critical. However, it is difficult for instructors to find a suitable IDE that is beginner friendly and supports strong functionality. In this paper, we report the experience of using Visual Studio Code (VS Code) in a CS1 programming course. We describe our motivation for choosing VS Code and how we introduce it to students. We create comprehensive guidance with hierarchical indexing to help students with diverse programming backgrounds. We perform an experimental evaluation of students' programming experience of using VS Code and validate the VS Code together with guidance as a promising solution for CS1 programming courses.

翻译：在入门级（CS1）编程课程中引入集成开发环境（IDE）至关重要。然而，教师难以找到既适合初学者又具备强大功能的IDE。本文报告了在CS1编程课程中使用Visual Studio Code（VS Code）的经验。我们阐述了选择VS Code的动机以及如何向学生介绍该工具。通过创建具有分层索引功能的综合指南，我们帮助了具有不同编程背景的学生。我们还对学生使用VS Code的编程体验进行了实验评估，验证了VS Code及其配套指南作为CS1编程课程解决方案的可行性。