Microsoft Visual Studio Express

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Microsoft Visual Studio Express
The Visual C++ 2005 Express IDE's Code Editor.
Maintainer:	Microsoft
Stable release:	November 27, 2005 _[+/-]
Preview release:	None _[+/-]
OS:	Microsoft Windows
Use:	Integrated development environment
License:	Microsoft EULA
Website:	msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express

Microsoft Visual Studio Express is a set of free of charge integrated development environments developed by Microsoft that are lightweight versions of the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (codenamed Whidbey) product line. The idea of express editions, according to Microsoft, is to provide a streamlined, easy-to-use and easy-to-learn IDEs for less serious users, such as hobbyists and students. They were released on November 7, 2005, and were supposed to be free just for one year (SQL Server 2005 Express Edition being the only exception). However, Microsoft announced on April 19, 2006 that these editions will always remain free.^[1]

1 Products
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Products

Visual Studio Express consists of the following separate products:

Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition
Visual C# 2005 Express Edition
Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition
Visual J# 2005 Express Edition
Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition
SQL Server 2005 Express Edition

[edit] Visual Basic Express

Despite the fact that it is a stripped-down version of Visual Studio, many improvements were made upon Visual Basic .NET 2005 from Visual Basic .NET 2003. Some of these changes were subtle, while others changed the way most developers using Visual Basic .NET worked. Here are some of the changes made:

Debugs at runtime.
Better IntelliSense support.
- Fixes common spelling errors.
- Corrects most invalid syntax.
- Provides suggestions to class names when specified classes are not found.
Allows partial classes.
XML comments for automatic documentation from utilities like NDoc.
Addition of the IsNot operator.

[edit] Visual Web Developer

The Visual Web Developer is a free web development tool that allows anyone to evaluate the web development and editing capabilities of the other Visual Studio 2005 editions at no charge. Its main function is to create ASP.NET websites.

It has a WYSIWYG, drag-and-drop user interface designer; enhanced HTML & code editors; a (limited) database explorer; support for other web technologies (e.g., CSS, Javascript, XML); and integrated, design-time validation for standards including XHTML 1.0/1.1 and CSS 2.1. VWD stands to be one of the best free tools for web developers and designers.

Being an Express IDE, it lacks certain features, such as the Accessibility Checker, the ability to create standalone Class Library Projects (which can be done by the other language-specific Express Editions), and the extensibility support necessary to load third-party add-ins and macros.

[edit] Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition

Due to the popularity of this free compiler, numerous popular programming libraries have been or are being modified to compile under it, including Irrlicht and Valve's Source engine.

The Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition can be used to compile .Net applications immediately after installation. In order to compile native Win32 applications, you need to download and install the Platform SDK, and configure Visual C++ 2005 Express as follows on the MSDN website: Using Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition with the Microsoft Platform SDK

Unfortunately, the Express Edition does not include the Visual C++ Redistributables and the SP1 version of the redistributables cannot be downloaded from Microsoft. This causes deployment problems when using Visual C++ 2005 Express Service Pack 1. For example, a "hello world" console program (compiled with default settings) will not run on a PC that does not already have Visual C++ 2005 Express SP1. This limitation does not exist with Borland Turbo C++ 2006 Explorer, which is also available for free download. However, Visual C++ 2005 Express offers better C++ standards compliance than Borland Turbo C++ 2006.

[edit] SQL Server 2005 Express Edition

This is basically a free, light-weight, and redistributable edition of Microsoft SQL Server 2005. It provides an integrated data storage solution for developers writing Windows applications and Web sites that have basic data storage needs. SQL Server 2005 Express replaces MSDE 2000 and significantly expands on its feature set.

The SQL Server Management Studio Express can also be downloaded to provide graphical user interface in administering the SQL Server 2005 Express. Another interesting feature that should be noted, unlike other free database servers, SQL Server 2005 Express Edition has no workload throttle.

The Express Edition has the following limitations:^[2]