Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Beta

[Peter Hogg]

Hello,

I recently downloaded 'Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Beta'.
It's been brilliant, but I couldn't help wondering what more you get
when you buy 'Visual Studio .NET'. There must be some considerable
advantages of using it considering its price.

So I'm asking you what 'Visual Studio .NET' has, that 'Microsoft Visual
C# 2005 Express Edition Beta' doesn't have (apart from the fact 'Visual
Studio .NET' allows you to program in multiple languages).



Thanks,

Peter Hogg

 

[Christoph Nahr]

I recently downloaded 'Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Beta'.
It's been brilliant, but I couldn't help wondering what more you get
when you buy 'Visual Studio .NET'. There must be some considerable
advantages of using it considering its price.

Luke Hutteman has compiled a list of present & missing features in his
weblog: http://blogs.msdn.com/lukeh/archive/2004/07/01/171213.aspx

As you said, only Visual Studio 2005 has support for multiple
languages. The other missing features are as follows:

- Team System stuff: source control, unit testing, profiling
- Add-ins (can't create or install any add-ins)
- Class Designer (visually design classes with UML-style graphics)
- ClickOnce deployment (one kind of installer; not sure about MSI)
- Remote debugging (okay, few people need that)
- Mobile development (Windows CE, Compact Framework)

Lack of add-ins is particularly nasty because you don't get the Team
System features either, so you'd normally want to integrate things
like unit testing or profiling as third-party add-ins...

Lack of multiple languages is also more problematic than it looks at
first glance. With Visual C# Express, you don't get built-in support
for HTML or XML editing; and you can't even add a "Makefile" project
to your solution (example: CHM help) because that requires C++ support
in the Visual Studio architecture (don't ask).

On the other hand, it's supposed to be really cheap so perhaps you
might buy several Express editions instead of the full Visual Studio
and still come out ahead...

 

[Peter Hogg]

Luke Hutteman has compiled a list of present & missing features in his
weblog: http://blogs.msdn.com/lukeh/archive/2004/07/01/171213.aspx

As you said, only Visual Studio 2005 has support for multiple
languages. The other missing features are as follows:

- Team System stuff: source control, unit testing, profiling
- Add-ins (can't create or install any add-ins)
- Class Designer (visually design classes with UML-style graphics)
- ClickOnce deployment (one kind of installer; not sure about MSI)
- Remote debugging (okay, few people need that)
- Mobile development (Windows CE, Compact Framework)

Lack of add-ins is particularly nasty because you don't get the Team
System features either, so you'd normally want to integrate things
like unit testing or profiling as third-party add-ins...

Lack of multiple languages is also more problematic than it looks at
first glance. With Visual C# Express, you don't get built-in support
for HTML or XML editing; and you can't even add a "Makefile" project
to your solution (example: CHM help) because that requires C++ support
in the Visual Studio architecture (don't ask).

On the other hand, it's supposed to be really cheap so perhaps you
might buy several Express editions instead of the full Visual Studio
and still come out ahead...

Thanks! All the information I needed.

- Peter Hogg