Visual Assist X is an add-in to Microsoft Visual C++ that uses an improved parser to enrich the IntelliSense of the VC++ editor and is aware of virtually every symbol in a project to assist in writing code. The parsers execute during editing and do not ship with pre-built symbol databases that restrict the scope of the Intellisense. Visual Assist X learns only from the headers and objects included in projects from the System, third party libraries, MFC or ATL/WTL/STL. The default parsers execute and custom lightweight versions run for all programming languages other than C/C++. Intellisense can be configured to run exclusively from Visual Assist X or from Visual Assist X when the default parser is unable to provide it. The parsers are low-priority, background threads that do not impact on the responsiveness of the IDE. The threads awaken typically during idle time and become silent during typing. Object code is not generated so fewer resources are consumed than with traditional parsers.