Opensource IDE

[Toulinwoek]

Does anyone know anything about an opensource C# IDE called SharpDevelop? I'm looking for something to learn with, and don't want to get something that's not going to do me much good. Thanks for any info!

[Dark_Omen]

#develop is good. I think it is just an ide wrapped around the .net framwork (or something like that). It is good, mainly because it is free.

[Toulinwoek]

It is good, mainly because it is free.

Yep, that's what I like about it. But I'd hate to get myself up to decent speed on it, then get Visual Studio and find I have to re-learn. Right now I just don't have the loose change lying around that Microsoft wants to VS 2005. Sheesh!

[Paul.Esson]

I havent really had much success with IDE's, I find them really unintutitive. I seem to find myself using a texteditor (usuly nano or gedit). They are exceedingly useful for building GUI's but when im not doing that I cant really see any point to using one, since they are spost to make life easy, and they don't seem to.

[Iron_Cross]

I've used #Develop and VS.NET 2003. And there is a world of difference! #Develop is good if you're doing simple tasks, and not in a work environment. If you are at all concerned with scheduels and the like, use VS.NET. I know it's not free or open source, but it's a great product.

[Dark_Omen]

Yeah, I have used both too, and VS.Net makes organizing and other stuff easier. It is costly though. The only thing bad about jsut writing a file in notepad or something is it doesn't come with a compiler and a debugger.

[Toulinwoek]

I've used #Develop and VS.NET 2003. And there is a world of difference! #Develop is good if you're doing simple tasks, and not in a work environment. If you are at all concerned with scheduels and the like, use VS.NET. I know it's not free or open source, but it's a great product.

Yeah, I don't have any worries about scheduling; my goal (after learning of course) is to mainly write and sell programs more or less independently. I have a lot of what I think are good ideas, I just need to sharpen (no pun intended) my tools.
As I said, my main concern is that #develop is so different from VS that I'll be locking myself in and will have to relearn if I decide to get VS. I have no doubt that VS is a great product, and I really, reeally want it, but I really really can't justify it's cost at this stage.

[Iron_Cross]

Then you're probably going to want VS.NET. It really makes many aspects of programming much less hasslesome, especially when wanting to build quality, professional software. But yes, it is very pricy. You might be able to grab a copy on a student license, depending on how old you are and stuff....
Plus, if you wait until 2005 comes out, you could probably get 2003 for a good deal. And I use 2003, and it's an awesome IDE.

[SethWebster]

VS.NET IDE is very intuitive. There are some glitches but with as robust as it is, MS would have been hard pressed not to screw up somewhere. There is no IDE as comprehensive. You COULD use #develop for learning purposes, but as stated above, not for anything on a schedule.

Consider that #develop is in an open source alpha/beta stage and will UE on you. The #develop team has implemented some things that are definitely missing from VS.NET ide like a few code completion macros:

prop int counter (hit Alt+Q here)

turns into:

private int counter;
public int Counter
{
     get
     {
          return this.counter;
     }
     set
     { 
          this.counter=value;
     }
}

It's a nice feature to have, but can easily be duplicated in minutes from within the VS.NET Macros IDE (and it runs a lot faster too).

I think that #develop is an awesome idea, and once it has been extensively bug tested and developed, that it may give the community at large a viable alternative to using a Microsoft product. However, with VS.NET 2005 about to break, #develop may be a little to little a little too late.

Seth Webster

[Toulinwoek]

I think that #develop is an awesome idea, and once it has been extensively bug tested and developed, that it may give the community at large a viable alternative to using a Microsoft product. However, with VS.NET 2005 about to break, #develop may be a little to little a little too late.
Seth Webster

Yeah, that's kind of my worry. I guess I need to take a look at VS.NET 2003. As long as the controls have the more modern look, I think I'll be satisfied. Then again, with the release date of 2005 being pushed back, maybe I'll have time to save a some pennies, scrounge up a bunch of aluminum cans and sell off some old clothes and buy it when it comes out. That would be HARD, though. I'd have to be real sure I'll be in this programming thing for the long haul before dropping that kind of dough!

Any thoughts about any of the Express products? They're still in beta, but I think MS is touting them as great tools, minus some of the serious power-developer functions, that might present a better learning environment.

[SethWebster]

Since I am currently using VS.NET 2003, I haven't looked into the express products although I have heard good things. Like I said, #develop would be a good place to start. See if you like it and if it runs okay for you. It won't be much of a transition to move to VS.NET IDE if you are unhappy.

http://store.yahoo.com/needsoftware/595104.html

The link above is for an academic version of VS.NET IDE with an academic discount. If you have a student ID or know someone who does. It's around $100. Lots cheaper than the $2500 I paid. ;)

Seth Webster

[bcheath_1]

If I were you, I would seriously consider saving up for the new Visual Studio.NET 2005 Professional. I use VS.NET 2003 Pro and I love it, but will be upgrading because of the significant changes to the DataGrid and the new features added. I paid about $800 for my copy of Visual Studio......I don't bother with the MSDN subscription. I heard Visual Studio.NET 2005 Pro will be released for $799 without the MSDN subscription. I've seen the beta version of Visual Studio.NET 2005 in action and it's awesome.

The Express Products are great for learning, but that's it. In order to do any kind of serious deployment or report creation, you will find yourself upgrading to the full development environment. I would not want to pay money twice. The Express products are not too expensive, but you could by the Professional edition of Visual Studio.NET 2005 cheaper than buying the four Express Products separately, and your options won't be as many as the full-fledged evironment.

Hope this helps with your decision making.

Good luck.

[vegaseat]

I have to admit that VCS.NET 2003 is a very good product. You used to be able to get it from Amazon.com and other places for around $100. As of right now it's pretty well sold out. So the academic version of the full blown studio sounds like a real good deal.

Make sure you understand that you need a huge amount of hard drive space! NET pretty well takes over your computer. Also, the programs you create only run on NET computers. If uncle Bill has his way, this will be 99% of the world's computers!

Get used to endless upgrades and a mind numbing array of versions.

[Toulinwoek]

Here's what I think I've decided, and why...

I'm going to save up and buy VS 2005 when it's released. In the mean time, I'm going to do all the learning I can with the Express products (right now, they're free beta, but I haven't had any problems, *yet*).
As much as I like #Develop, I find I must reject it in favor of VC# Express. What I usually do when trying to learn a development tool, is to pass on the "Hello World", and try to do something more practical: create two forms, then put a button on the first form that opens the second one. I've been able to figure this out in every product I've evaluated to date. In #Develop, however, I had a bear of a time doing it, so I went to the MSDN site, found a code snippet, pasted it into #Develop, and the thing wouldn't compile. I studied the code, trying to understand as best I could what was amiss, and after several changes, got nowhere. Today I tried the same thing in the beta of VC# Express, and it worked perfectly the first time! Plus, VC# Express has some great tutorial info for a beginner like me. I have to conclude that there is something going on in #Develop that is different than in VC#. Once I have learned a good deal about C# in general, I'd lke to go back to #Develop and figure out why it didn't work, but this experience has pretty much sold me on using VC#, and on buying the full product when it's released.

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