Exploring alternatives to Visual Studio.NET

While Microsoft Visual Studio .NET is the standard-bearer for .NET development, its hefty price tag and overwhelming features can oftenpush developers away from it. Thankfully, a variety of alternative IDEs (Integrated Development Environment) are available. Here's a high-level view of these alternatives.

ASP.NET Web Matrix
Microsoft provides the freely available ASP.NET Web Matrix tool (http://www.asp.net/webmatrix/default.aspx?tabindex=4&tabid=46) for developing ASP.NET-based applications. Microsoft describes it as a community-supported, easy-to-use WYSIWYG application development tool for ASP.NET. It includes database connectivity, Web services, mobile platform support, and support for multiple languages. It is supported on Windows 2000 and XP and Internet Explorer 5.5 or greater with the .NET Framework installed. Finally, it includes a development Web server so IIS is not required.

SharpDevelop
SharpDevelop (http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/Default.aspx) is a freely available open source IDE built with the C# language. It provides a great example of what you can achieve with the .NET platform, but it doesn't restrict you to C#. It is similar to Visual Studio .NET in both appearance and features. It allows you to develop all types of applications including ASP.NET, Windows Forms, and console. At this time, it is only supported on the Windows platform.

PrimalCode
PrimalCode (http://www.primalscript.com/primalcode.aspx) is a commercially available .NET IDE available from Sapien. The company describes it as an innovative .NET development environment, incorporating complete scripting and .NET development capability in a compact size that works with your existing hardware. PrimalCode includes two other Sapien tools: PrimalScript and PrimalDiff. In addition to .NET support, PrimalCode supports more than 30 languages including Perl, classic ASP, PHP, ColdFusion, VBScript, JSP, and WMI. Also, it includes a source code control system. It is available for the Windows platform with a trial download available. The download version is available for US$249.

Antechinus C# Editor
Antechinus C# Editor (http://www.c-point.com/)allows you to develop C# code including both Windows Forms and ASP.NET applications. It resembles Microsoft FrontPage, allowing you to publish an application to the appropriate Web location. It is integrated with the various tools installed with the .NET Framework, and it includes many features to make your life easier like bookmarking, documentation, colour-coding, templates, and so forth. It is available for US$49.95 for the Windows platform.

Eclipse
Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/) is an open, extensible IDE framework developed by IBM. It was originally developed for the Java language. It is built on a mechanism for discovering, integrating, and running modules called plug-ins. That is, a tool provider writes a tool as a separate plug-in that operates on files in the workspace and surfaces its tool-specific user interface in the IDE. One such plug-in is the C# Plugin (http://www.improve-technologies.com/alpha/esharp/) from Improve Technologies. It allows you to work with C# code, but the creation of C# projects or integrated development of ASP.NET or Windows Forms' applications is not supported. Both Eclipse and the Improve C# Plugin are freely available for Windows and Linux.

MonoDevelop
MonoDevelop (http://www.monodevelop.com/) is a freely available IDE for the Linux platform. It is connected with the Mono project. It is a simple IDE allowing development of C# code. It includes various Visual Studio .NET features like code completion, extensive help, class management, and an integrated debugger. It is still in the early stages of development so it will continue to add features, including support for building GUI interfaces. You should monitor its site to keep up with associated developments.

CodeWright
Borland has been an active member of the development tool community for many years, and they are an active participant in the continuing evolution of Eclipse as well. Its CodeWright tool (http://www.borland.com/codewright/) is a powerful file editing system. It includes peer-to-peer connectivity for remote communication and file editing. Basically, I think of it as a text editor on steroids. It is available as a standalone tool as well as an add-in for Visual Studio .NET. The downside is that the CodeWright product is being discontinued so future support is still to be determined.

Text editors
While the use of specialised development tools like Visual Studio .NET, SharpDevelop, and Eclipse provide developers with a wealth of power, many developers prefer the flexibility offered by their favorite text editors. A comprehensive list of text editors is beyond the space limitations of this article, but here is a sampling:

* Emacs
* jEdit
* Microsoft Notepad
* TextPad
* vi
* SlickEdit

Many of these editors provide support for plug-ins to handle .NET-specific editing. You can enhance or extend the Visual Studio .NET IDE with plug-ins as well.

The choice is yours
I've been involved with various projects where each developer uses their preferred tool. On the other hand, I've seen projects where the usage of a certain IDE was mandated. Most often, such a mandate is related to external tools utilised like a source control tool such as ClearCase or Visual SourceSafe. Other times, you may be working alone on a small project or budget restraints may guide your choice. The good news is that there are numerous tools available.