Developing C# applications using Free Tools.
May
30
Written by:
2009/05/30 10:08 AM
One of the biggest arguments against Microsoft, .NET and C# (csharp) development is that it costs so much money. Buying Visual Studio can be very expensive. So, many anti-Microsoft developers plug their open source tools, stating that you can get these, download them, and develop for free. While this may be true, what many don’t tell you is that you CAN develop in C# and .Net using free tools.
Microsoft Express Studio
For a while now, Microsoft have made available a free, lightweight of their development environment. The Visual Studio Express suite of tools is totally free, even for developing commercial applications.
The idea of express editions, according to Microsoft, is to provide streamlined, easy-to-use and easy-to-learn IDEs
With these tools you can develop powerful and sophisticated windows apps, Web Apps, Games, even integrate robotics into your apps. Having a backend is also needed, using MS SQL is the database of choice.
The tools include:
- C# Express
- VB.net Express
- C++ Express
- WebDev Express
- SQL Express
- XNA Game Development Express
- Microsoft Robotics Studio
SharpDevelop
SharpDevelop or #Develop, is an open-source application that works perfectly like Visual Studio.NET. SharpDevelop is a free and open source IDE for the C#, Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), Boo, and (starting from version 3.0) F# and IronPython programming languages. SharpDevelop 2.0 has an integrated debugger. It uses its own debugging library that communicates with the Microsoft .NET runtime using COM interop
As you've probably already heard, Microsoft released .NET 4.0 Beta 1 on May, 20th. SharpDevelop 4.0 will be the SharpDevelop version built on top of .NET 4.0. It’s currently also in Beta and still in development. But it is a refreshing alternative to Visual Studio.
Comparison
For those who are thinking about whether you'd like to choose between SharpDevelop and Microsoft Visual Studio Express Edition, A comparison of features provided by Microsoft's Visual Studio Express editions and SharpDevelop is shown in the Table below.
| Feature |
SharpDevelop 3.0 |
SharpDevelop 2.2 |
Visual Studio Express Editions |
| Code auto-completion |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Code syntax highlighting |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Windows Forms Designer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Web Forms Designer |
No |
No |
Provided with Visual Web Developer |
| Code Coverage |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Unit Testing |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Languages Supported |
C#, VB.NET, Boo, F#, IronPython |
C#, VB.NET, Boo |
C#, C++, VB.NET, J# |
| Help documentation |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Plug-in support |
Yes |
Yes |
No explicit support for plug-ins however third party plug-ins can work with the Express edition. |
| Insert PInvoke Signatures |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Testing Regular Expressions |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Class View |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Solution Explorer |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Project and Solution File Format |
MSBuild |
MSBuild |
MSBuild |
| Web references |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Refactorings |
Rename, Extract Method, Remove unused imports |
Rename |
Rename, Extract Method |
| Go to definition |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Find References |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Code generation |
Yes. Not as powerful as Visual Studio's Code Snippet Manager. |
Yes. Not as powerful as Visual Studio's Code Snippet Manager. |
Yes |
| Object Browser |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Database Explorer |
No |
Yes. Lacking support for many database providers. |
Yes |
| Publishing |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Data Sources View |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Add Data Source Wizard |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Document Outline View |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Resources |
Local and project |
Local only |
Local and project |
| ActiveX Toolbox Items |
Partial - need to generate .NET interop library |
Partial - need to generate .NET interop library |
Yes |
| Integrated debugger |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Targeting different .NET frameworks |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Reporting |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes through the report viewer plug-in |
| Task List |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Error List |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Database Designer Tools |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Code conversion |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Integrated NAnt support |
No |
Yes |
No |
| Integrated WiX support |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Integrated FxCop support |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Integrated StyleCop support |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Navigation History |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| XPath Queries |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
| Incremental Search |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| XML documentation preview and generation |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
There are obviously some weaknesses and limiting factors when it comes to these free applications. But then it is free. So now you can develop C# applications using either free or open source development tool. What are you waiting for.
If you have used any of these tools, why not let us know what your thoughts are by leaving us a comment below.
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1 comment(s) so far...
Re: Developing C# applications using Free Tools.
I use Visual C++ at my day job, and Visual C#/C++ express in my spare time to mess around and build my own applications. I promise you I don't see the difference between the free and paid versions. The express versions of Microsoft's development apps are very powerful.
By Johann du Plessis on
2009/05/30 11:58 AM
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