Release candidate of Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 is now available to download. This update supports TFS 2013 Update 2 RTM as well as the Windows 8.1 Update 1 and Windows Phone 8.1 platform releases announced yesterday. Checkout Somasegar’s blog where he talks about these new releases, the .NET Native preview release, TypeScript 1.0 and more. Brian Harry’s post has highlights of what’s new in the TFS 2013 Update 2 RTM release. To learn more about the Windows updates checkout the Windows Blogs. If you missed watching the keynotes at BUILD you can catch the recordings of the keynotes and other sessions on Channel 9.
TypeScript had its first official birthday yesterday and is included in the Visual Studio 2013 Update 2. The TypeScript language is a typed superset of JavaScript that compiles to plain JavaScript. As a typed language you can define classes, modules and interfaces that compiles to JavaScript and runs in any browser. You can also take advantage of the capabilities you have come to expect from your development environment like statement completion, code refactoring, code navigation and more. To learn more check out http://www.typescriptlang.org/.
With this release you can now build universal apps that take advantage of the increasing platform convergence between Windows and Windows Phone. Universal apps can run on Windows 8.1 and Windows Phone 8.1 while sharing code and assets through shared projects. You can choose a universal app template to start creating a new app or you can add windows Phone 8.1 support to your existing Windows 8.1 app using shared projects. Keep an eye on the blog for more posts on universal projects and other features in Visual Studio for building Windows and Windows Phone apps. In the meantime, here’s an MSDN article to whet your appetite.
If you don’t have Visual Studio 2013 yet, we have a single download that will get you Visual Studio 2013 RTM and all the features in Update 2. Normally our updates are cumulative patches for the RTM version of Visual Studio that would require you to first install Visual Studio and then the update. Based on user feedback to get the latest tools quickly, we have a single install that includes Visual Studio 2013 RTM and all the features in Update 2. Click one of the links below to install Visual Studio 2013 RTM with Update 2 RC.
For details about the changes and bug fixes included in this update checkout the KB article, and for a quick view at features checkout VisualStudio.com. This is an RC so we are still putting the finishing touches on the update. If you find bugs log them at Microsoft Connect and keep the feedback coming.
Thanks,
The Visual Studio Team