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PlatformIO vs Visual Studio: What are the differences?
Developers describe PlatformIO as "Next-generation IDE for IoT". PlatformIO is an open source ecosystem for IoT development. Cross-platform build system and library manager. Continuous and IDE integration. Arduino and MBED compatible. Ready for Cloud compiling. On the other hand, Visual Studio is detailed as "State-of-the-art tools and services that you can use to create great apps for devices, the cloud, and everything in between". Visual Studio is a suite of component-based software development tools and other technologies for building powerful, high-performance applications.
PlatformIO and Visual Studio belong to "Integrated Development Environment" category of the tech stack.
"It is the best" is the primary reason why developers consider PlatformIO over the competitors, whereas "Intellisense, ui" was stated as the key factor in picking Visual Studio.
PlatformIO is an open source tool with 3.18K GitHub stars and 416 GitHub forks. Here's a link to PlatformIO's open source repository on GitHub.
The problem I have is whether to choose Android Studio or Visual Studio? I have to develop a simple app for a school project that can work on both iPhone and Android.
The most important factors for me are Android and iOS compatibility. Although note that i would like to become a Software Engineer when i finish my course. (I'd like to work for Apple, just saying!)
After that id like easy integration for Google Ads and such if i do develop another app that people actually use to support development. (I'd also like to stick with one easy programming language that's compatible with a wide variety of platforms since i'm a beginner and have only ever used Pascal)

First of all - Android Studio and Visual Studio are IDE's. Tools to create code. What you are asking is programming framework. I assume that when you are talking about Android Studio you mean Native Android Development and by Visual Studio you mean Xamarin.
If you want to create crossplatform app then Native Android Development is NOT a way to go. Xamarin might work for you, BUT - you'd rather recommend you to go with Flutter. It's much more performant than Xamarin, programming model is friendlier for developer and technology seems just more refined. It's also officially supported by google, so no worries about support.
Pros of PlatformIO
- Support for various Embedded Boards7
- It is the best5
- Integrates with VSCode and Atom3
- Device monitor filters1
- CI (continous integration)1
- CLI (command line tools1
Pros of Visual Studio
- Intellisense, ui305
- Complete ide and debugger244
- Plug-ins165
- Integrated104
- Documentation93
- Fast37
- Node tools for visual studio (ntvs)35
- Free Community edition33
- Simple24
- Bug free17
- Made by Microsoft8
- Full free community version6
- JetBrains plugins (ReSharper etc.) work sufficiently OK5
- Productivity Power Tools3
- Vim mode2
- VIM integration2
- I develop UWP apps and Intellisense is super useful1
- Cross platform development1
- The Power and Easiness to Do anything in any.. language1
- Available for Mac and Windows1
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Cons of PlatformIO
Cons of Visual Studio
- Bulky15
- Made by Microsoft13
- Sometimes you need to restart to finish an update4
- Too much size for disk3
- Only avalible on Windows3