In this chapter, we took an initial look at the SharePoint Framework and its capabilities. As we saw, the framework is constantly evolving and currently supports several core features SharePoint developers are used to having when implementing solutions for SharePoint and SharePoint Online. We can expect the SharePoint Framework to rapidly evolve, and extend beyond client-side web parts and basic extensions.
For writing code, Visual Studio Code is the recommended editor, as it is lightweight, free, and has native support for the SharePoint Framework solutions. The majority of the orchestration for the SharePoint Framework project is done outside Visual Studio Code, from Command Prompt, or via an embedded command window within Visual Studio Code.
The toolchain includes npm, for managing packaging, Yeoman for generating the necessary project structures and templates, and Gulp for packaging and serving the actual project. Additional tools that we recommend include browser developer...