SharpDevelop, also known as #develop, is an open-source development environment for .NET, including both C# and VB.NET development. The tool is distributed under the GPL licence and has grown since it's first release in 2000 to become a full-featured IDE and development platform.
Using SharpDevelop you can create a number of different types of .NET applications, as shown below in Figure 1, as well as compile C# and VB.NET out of the box.
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| Figure 1: SharpDevelop can be used to create a number of different types of applications. |
If you are new to .NET development, or are more familiar with VB.NET and want to make the switch to C# (or vice-versa) you will love the convert functions available in SharpDevelop. You can convert between C# and VB .NET with surprising accuracy. The IDE also features code completion and auto-insert, as well as syntax highlighting for C#, VB.NET, ASP, ASP.NET, HTML, VBScript, and XML.
In addition to providing a rich user interface (as shown in Figure 2) the design environment also features a number of -shortcuts" for developers, including a robust search and replace feature and a plug-in architecture that can be used to integrate other tools and utilities and the platform features integrated NUnit support for unit testing of .NET applications.
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| Figure 2: The SharpDevelop IDE |
For developers who are new to the .NET platform, SharpDevelop could be the only tool they need. For experienced Visual Studio.NET developers who are used to a different user interface, there may be a bit of a learning curve, but SharpDevelop provides enough features and functionality to make it worth their while.
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1
Rob Poyntz - 22/06/05
How could you perform this comparison of tools without considering the Borland Developer Studio / Delphi 2005? With support for both Delphi.Net and C#, surely the author should have considered this IDE in the article?
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2
Brendon Chase - 23/06/05
We chose these tools because they were a cheap alternative and lesser known than other enterprise options such as Delphi 05. We have covered Borland tools for .NET (well C# Builder just before Delphi 05) in our RAD tools comparison which can be found here:
http://www.builderau.com.au/program/0,39024614,39131183-5,00.htm
However, stay tuned for a head-to-head with VS in the near future!
Thanks for feedback,
Brendon Chase
Editor, Builder
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3
David Boccabella - 23/06/05
I agree SharpDevelop is an excellent product for learing the more advance features on .NET
One can purchase the standard and professional versions of VB.NET however it does not allow you to create Services etc..
SharpDevelop fills that gap and in a connstant developmetn cycle to improve it.
Very good Product indeed.
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4
Witness - 23/06/05
Visual SlickEdit costs $284 for a single copy. How can it be "Excellent" for cost??? Is the writer using a pirated copy of it? :-)
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5
Lewis Daniells - 23/06/05
Visual SlickEdit isn't free?
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6
James Brockman - 24/06/05
There was one other product that was worth mentioning:
http://www.c-point.com/c_sharp_editor.php
James Brockman
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7
Andrew Arnott - 25/06/05
Dreamweaver is NOT a replacement for Visual Studio coding.
It may have the ability to create an .aspx page, and even drop in a few standard ASP.NET controls, but in no way can it replace VS for writing Windows Forms applications, or any decently sized, ASP.NET-utilizing web app. Heck, it doesn't even have support for a compiler.
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8
Jon Paal - 30/06/05
Sharp Develop is not an excellent product. It is horribly buggy and hangs on every attempt to exit. the help and documentation is out of sync with the current version, the copy to clipboard often throws an ugly error message. I could go on.
Yes it's definitely free and it shows.
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9
Piet Pieters - 11/07/05
What about Borland Delphi ? The Delphi 2005 IDE can be used to develop .NET applications in Delphi and in C#.
http://www.borland.com/us/products/delphi/index.html
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