Ok, maybe you read my earlier post about me not wanting to upgrade to VS 2008.
Ok, I admit it. I was wrong. I bow and apologize to Microsoft. But honestly, I didn't know about the SP 1
which finally makes the express versions useful in real life. The reasons Express versions earlier have been completely rubbish for other things than as a toy is not being able to precompile (dll in bin folder - so called Web application projects) and not being able to add additional (for example class projects) into the solution.
Ok, you say, why don't you use Visual Studio Pro or better, you cheap m*f*er? Well, I have. I have bought all Pro (or eqiuvalent, sometimes I have had the MSDN enterprise subscriptions) versions since VS 97 and I am sick of installing bigger and bigger files and downloads, taking longer and longer to work with. I want something else. The sound of "Express" - as in quick, lightweight , with no rubbish/extra tools/sourcecode management integration (I do it outside) /modelling tools etc - is the sound of music to me.
Now after a few days of testing, what can I say about the options I have explored - remember I don't want to upgrade to VS 2008 Studio Pro:
a) SharpDevelop. Amazing. My WinForm/console solutions loads in notime and I really like the IDE. My existing ASP.NET apps (created in VS 2005) are OK to work with. Since I seldom use the visual GUI designer window anyway. But honestly I really miss the automatic code generation (i.e hooking up events etc) from it. So I haven't still completely decided that's the way to go.
b) RAD Studio, Borland. Downloaded an eval of it. As I suspected this is a giant beast just like Visual Studio Pro or higher and just removed it asap. Not even sure you can do asp.net apps with C#, at least it seems to default to delphi.
c) 2008 Express Editions of Visual Studio.
This is where I am now. Just installed trhe SP1 beta and I was so thrilled when I loaded up a solution for a smaller site I have, just one asp.net website, one dll project and a supporting console batch app. But everything has compiled well and I have debugged it with breakpoints and all seems to be working ok!!! This might be it, perhaps!
Next: Need to explore the WinForms solutions I have. Not sure I need to download the C# Express separately or not, but I'll keep you posted.
Btw: no child yet...Still waiting. One week over expected date today, but my first girl was 23 days(!!!) late and my second 14 days. So, I might still have another week to explore IDE:s...
