[Jeet.in]

I well I am new to programming, not to mention a novice in IDEs. However I want to know one thing, is it possible to develop great software without using Visual Studio at all? I know its feature rich etc, but still is the possibility there? Can open source/free tools do it?

Thanks.

[blackcompe]

Well, that depends on what language you're using. I don't know about C#, but you can use CodeBlocks and Eclipse for C/C++ development. Eclipse sucks and CodeBlocks is mediocre at best. The CodeBlocks debugger is nice though. Do you know that Visual Studio Express is free?

This post has been edited by blackcompe: 14 April 2012 - 09:11 AM

[Jeet.in]

Price doesn't matter. I have Dreamspark for that. just wanted opinions.

[tlhIn`toq]

Since you are asking specifically about Visual Studio....
Then you say you want something free...
So have you tried the free editions of Visual Studio? Do they not meet your needs?

Free editions of Visual Studio 2010

Student editions of Visual Studio

[Jeet.in]

tlhIn`toq, on 15 March 2012 - 06:40 AM, said:

Since you are asking specifically about Visual Studio....
Then you say you want something free...
So have you tried the free editions of Visual Studio? Do they not meet your needs?

Free editions of Visual Studio 2010

Student editions of Visual Studio

Nope money doesn't matter. My school is already affiliated with the DreamSpark Premium program, which entitles me to get all Microsoft products for free. I was just asking if it is possible to avoid using Visual Studio in my professional career. Thanks.

[tlhIn`toq]

Jeet.in, on 15 March 2012 - 07:50 AM, said:

I was just asking if it is possible to avoid using Visual Studio in my professional career.

Yes: Develop for Macintosh/iPad/Iphone. Then the IDE is called "Xcode" and is distributed free with all Machintoshes.

But if you want to develop for Windows, in a professional environment working for a company and not yourself... Then you can expect to be living in Visual Studio for your foreseeable lifetime.

[Jeet.in]

Thanks for the answer ! I have not yet installed Visual Studio (actually I tried installing once and I ended up with 2 errors) so I was a bit skeptic. it seems I need to install it and get started. Any tips for a fresh, clean, error free install?

[SpartanGuy07]

You can just use a text editor like notepad, notepad++, or textpad but if you are looking into a career in programming you will definitely want to use an IDE because the size and scope of a program/application will be much more easily managed.

This post has been edited by SpartanGuy07: 15 March 2012 - 08:18 AM

[tlhIn`toq]

Jeet.in, on 15 March 2012 - 08:03 AM, said:

Any tips for a fresh, clean, error free install?

Hard to say since I don't know what the original problems were. I've installed VS several times and never had an issue. Best I can say is do a full uninstall, double check the applications directory then give it a go again.

I strongly suggest installing VMware or some other virtualization technology on your development PC so you can create a couple virtual computers for testing. This would allow you to debug and test inside: WinXP32, XP64, Vista, Win7x32, Win7x64... etc. without having to actually have 5 physical PC's. Visual Studio will let you send the debug directly into one of these virtual machines so you can watch it operate, check its variables, see the crashes and so on just as if it were debugging on your real machine.

[Jeet.in]

tlhIn`toq, on 15 March 2012 - 07:13 AM, said:

Jeet.in, on 15 March 2012 - 08:03 AM, said:

Any tips for a fresh, clean, error free install?

Hard to say since I don't know what the original problems were. I've installed VS several times and never had an issue. Best I can say is do a full uninstall, double check the applications directory then give it a go again.

I strongly suggest installing VMware or some other virtualization technology on your development PC so you can create a couple virtual computers for testing. This would allow you to debug and test inside: WinXP32, XP64, Vista, Win7x32, Win7x64... etc. without having to actually have 5 physical PC's. Visual Studio will let you send the debug directly into one of these virtual machines so you can watch it operate, check its variables, see the crashes and so on just as if it were debugging on your real machine.

This was the actual problem: http://www.dreaminco...ost__p__1529376

it was an installation problem I guess.

This post has been edited by Jeet.in: 15 March 2012 - 07:18 AM

[AlderCherry]

blackcompe, on 15 March 2012 - 12:56 AM, said:

Well, that depends on what language you're using. I don't about C#, but you can use CodeBlocks and Eclipse for C/C++ development. Eclipse sucks and CodeBlocks is mediocre at best. Do you know that Visual Studio Express is free?

Hi blackcompe! I do agree with you. Thanks for sharing your views with us.

[BobRodes]

You can of course write whatever C# code you want using your favorite text editor, then use csc.exe to compile it. You don't need VS for any of that: Visual Studio isn't required to write .Net code. It's just a "convenience."

This post has been edited by BobRodes: 23 April 2012 - 01:12 PM