Primordial Ooze

Microsoft Visual C# 2005 Express

I downloaded Microsoft's new Visual C# 2005 Express beta today. Here's a [very] brief overview of my experience.

Installation

You can get the distribution here: http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/express/vcsharp/

My hopes are that the beta won't mess with my existing installation of Visual Studio 2003. So far, the experience has been a pleasant one.

The installation has minimal steps to it, but it had some quirks. After installing the .NET Framework 2.0, I had to reboot. When my system restarted, the ISO image wasn't mounted so the installation halted with an "Abort, Retry, Cancel"-like message. I mounted  the volume and said retry, but that didn't work. I restarted the installation and it picked up right where it left off.

My version installed these components:

• Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Beta
• Visual C# 2005 Express edition Beta
• Microsoft MSDN Express Library 2005 Beta
• SQL Server 2005 Express Edition Beta

I'm writing a little Battlemap program in C# using VS 2003 and I'm going to try and code it up in the beta for a little while. If I send the build to anyone, they will have to install the .NET Framework 2.0 Beta 1 distribution.

Project Migration

Project migration from VS 2003 was a snap. In fact, a Wizard came up and asked me if I wanted to backup my project in case the upgrade didn't go well. I had no problems.

Editing

It's fast! Invoking the IDE is fast and editing is butter smooth.

I use a plugin called C# Refactory from XtremeSimplicity for refactoring in Visual Studio 2003. However, the refactoring support in the beta seems more solid. I guess that feeling is mainly based on the fact that the refactoring dialogs are invoked much more quickly.

There are numerous other editing enhancements that I'm sure to like, but I won't go into them here.

Designing

What can I say? The beta's form designer is light years ahead of where it was in VS 2003. The toolbox is organized better and gives you a better idea of where your components and controls are coming from.

Help

Finally, MSDN help is integrated both locally and on the Internet. If a help item isn't found locally, it searches the Internet. It took way too long for this to happen.

Conclusion

The download is small (267MB) and it seems to work side by side with my regular development tools. I'll find it hard to go back to VS 2003.