IT question - Visual Studio 2010.

[larus]

I was looking to get a copy of VS 2010 pro. However, on the MS comparison site, they list the Express versions of VB and Web Developer which are free.

Anyone had any experience of the free ones or know of the limitations/benefits between the free ones/full-blown?

Ta.

 

[Ex-Staffs Gull]

Treat it as a learning tool, most of the commercial bits aren't there like the ability to publish self-developed websites, which is when we purchased developer licenses. TBH I work mainly in Java based middleware now, and so avoid M$ products like the plague. Have used it a bit an I will conceed a good IDE, but imo nowhere near as flexible as the java free ides or paid for

 

[Simster]

Treat it as a learning tool, most of the commercial bits aren't there like the ability to publish self-developed websites, which is when we purchased developer licenses. TBH I work mainly in Java based middleware now, and so avoid M$ products like the plague. Have used it a bit an I will conceed a good IDE, but imo nowhere near as flexible as the java free ides or paid for

The Java IDEs are pretty crap though, IMO. VS has always had a brilliant IDE, especially for screen design.

What you say about treating the VS express version as a learning tool is absolutely spot on. They normally exclude some fairly fundamental pieces, such as database access.

 

[clapham_gull]

Treat it as a learning tool, most of the commercial bits aren't there like the ability to publish self-developed websites, which is when we purchased developer licenses. TBH I work mainly in Java based middleware now, and so avoid M$ products like the plague. Have used it a bit an I will conceed a good IDE, but imo nowhere near as flexible as the java free ides or paid for

Well depends on what you need it for. I'm written a few apps that validate text and xml files. Don't need anything more than the free ones for that.

As for database access, I'm pretty it's in there in the free versions but you are probably limited to SQL Server and Access "easy" connectivity. But it's not going to stop you executing a SQL statement on something else, through ODBC.

One of the commented limitations (I think) is you need a separate ID for Web and Desktop development... and course a separate IDE for C#, VB.Net.

Although I think there is a single "Web Developer Express" edition.

 

[Ex-Staffs Gull]

The Java IDEs are pretty crap though, IMO. VS has always had a brilliant IDE, especially for screen design.

What you say about treating the VS express version as a learning tool is absolutely spot on. They normally exclude some fairly fundamental pieces, such as database access.

Depends which ones and what you are using them for (and remember they are free) - Netbeans is a bit buggy, Eclipse is good, but certain plugins are again buggy. We use eclipse for open source middleware as that is their chosen tooling platform. We also use JDeveloper for Oracle Fusion stuff. I believe that this is free to download but very Oracle centric. The reason MS VS is good with screen design is it is specific to MS platforms etc. MFC support for C++ is limited etc. End of the day if it gets the job done quickly and it works go for it. I have used ASP.NET and C# a bit and both have their plus sides, but I will always favour java stuff, especially now the big boys like Oracle/Sun and IBM are seeing $s in developing the tooling.

 

[Badger]

I think Microsoft are quite clever in the way they make sure you haven't got quite enough to use the Express versions for any kind of commercial development. C# Express is missing quite a few elements which are in Web Developer Express which in turn is missing bits from C# Express. If you could combine the two you wouldn't be too far away from VS2010 Pro so that is why they have the separate versions.

As people have said they are great training tools and I've used C# Express to build a couple of simple applications.

 

[larus]

Thanks for the info. Think I'll be getting the MS 2010 Pro copy for my .NET stuff.

Anyone recommend a good training company for ASP.NET? Have used Global Knowledge and Learning Tree in the past. They're OK but not great. I don't need to know the basics of programming (been there, done that, etc), but how to work with .NET. Cheers.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I work on Visual Studio all the time for C++ (I avoid VB like the plague, although some still use it here for legacy stuff). The cut-down versions will obviously have less in them, like the publishing stuff. Really depends what you are doing - but they're not going to give away anything particularly useful if they can charge a load for the full-blown version.