Opinion: Visual Studio.net Pro 2003 vs. Visual C# 2005 Express

[kmich]

I am planning on learning C#. Would it be best to learn on a full
version of 2003 Pro or 2005 Express. What would be the
advantages/disadvantages? Thank you for your time.

 

[Guest]

personally id go with the express version, just to make sure ul like the
syntax, set up, etc then if you want to spend the money then use the full
version...just my 2 cents

 

[Brendan Green]

2005 Express, because it's free.

 

[kmich]

iwdu15, thank you for replying to my message. I currently have a the
choice of using either. The investment was already made into 2003 Pro a
couple years ago. I also have in front of me both Sams Teach Yourself
Visual C# 2003 and 2005. Just unsure if I will be missing out on new
important things because the version of 2003 is old or because the 2005
lite version lacks "essential" features. Thanks again

 

[Michael A. Covington]

iwdu15, thank you for replying to my message. I currently have a the
choice of using either. The investment was already made into 2003 Pro a
couple years ago. I also have in front of me both Sams Teach Yourself
Visual C# 2003 and 2005. Just unsure if I will be missing out on new
important things because the version of 2003 is old or because the 2005
lite version lacks "essential" features. Thanks again

The 2003 version has 95% of what you need. If you are programming serial
ports or using DataGridViews, you need the 2005 version.

 

[Tony Sinclair]

iwdu15, thank you for replying to my message. I currently have a the
choice of using either. The investment was already made into 2003 Pro a
couple years ago. I also have in front of me both Sams Teach Yourself
Visual C# 2003 and 2005. Just unsure if I will be missing out on new
important things because the version of 2003 is old or because the 2005
lite version lacks "essential" features. Thanks again

My understanding, which may well be wrong, is that the Express
versions are full implementations of the language and SDK, i.e. no
essential features are missing from VC2K5, and many non-essential
features are missing from VS2K3. 2K5 has a lot of improvements and
new controls that make it easier and faster to write programs, based
on feedback from the 2K3 version. It will also install version 2 of
the Net framework, which might be required to run third party
programs, while installing VS2K3 will install the Net 1.1 framework.
Of course, with VS2K3, you will get all the other languages in VS, but
if you aren't going to use them, they will just waste space on your
drive. VS2K3 may also have more options in the IDE and debugger, but
probably not anything a beginner needs.

 

[Fred Mellender]

I have used VS 2003, VS 2005, and 2005 Express. There are enough
significant new language features in C# V2, most notably generics, (included
in 2005 Express and but not 2003) that I would advise you to learn C# via
2005 Express. That is what I used and it was quite easy to advance to VS
2005.

The IDE's wrt C# are the same, I believe, in 2005 Express and VS 2005, and
include nice features not in VS 2003 (refactoring is one among many).

Express C# 2005 does not offer web development and the other languages (VS
2003 does), but you can download different Express's for those.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

You'll be missing out on the .Net Platform 2.0.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Professional Chicken Salad Alchemist

What You Seek Is What You Get.

 

[kmich]

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback! I appreciate your time.

 

[Ian Semmel]

And seeing how it is all going to change again, I wouldn't spend any money until
I had something which was going to give a return;

 

[Thomas T. Veldhouse]

I am planning on learning C#. Would it be best to learn on a full
version of 2003 Pro or 2005 Express. What would be the
advantages/disadvantages? Thank you for your time.

Express if free! Learn from it while you can. You will know when it is time
to move on. If you are asking the question, you aren't ready Honestly,
learn for free.

Do you have a software development background? Do you understand
object-oriented concepts (analysis and design)?