Customer Reviews

Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2005 (OLD VERSION)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I'm surprised to see any tepid reviews of VS 2005. VS.NET quickly became my favorite when it was introduced in 2002. With this release it continues to improve on the most enjoyable development environment out there. The 2005 edition has added C# generics, C# edit and continue, better intellisense, ClickOnce deployment, SQL Server Express support, and a bunch more.

If you're new to VS.NET, you should check out the Express Edition for the language you're interested in (C#, Visual Basic, C++). The Express Editions will probably suit most of your needs for a trial and are available for free from Microsoft's site. You can install more than one if you need multiple languages.

The benefit of getting the Standard or Pro edition is that you get additional functionality like remote debugging, remote datasource capabilities, a single IDE for all languages (making it easier to do mixed managed/unmanaged code), 64-bit compilation and more. The differences should also be reviewed on the Microsoft site before you buy.

Bottom line, check it out before buying using the Express Editions. If you're an experienced programmer my guess is you'll probably like what you see.

Like other reviewers, I have found that older C and C++ projects (VS2003, VC++6, etc) usually will not work with Visual Studio 2005. You'll get tons of compile errors and warnings, unresolved linker symbols, etc. and you will spend a LOT of time changing your program to make it work, if you can make it work at all. And the import wizard did not help much in this respect.

Also, I found it troubling that there are a lot of nice formatting and Intellisense options for C#, but not for C++. There is some rudimentary formatting and Intellisense functionality for C++, but it is much more limited than what you get for C#. So, one of the nice features of VS is missing for C++. Why? It seems this is the MS way of getting us to use their chosen language, C#. It certainly makes me wonder about the future of C++ at Microsoft.

That said, there are still lots of nice features in Visual Studio 2005, and for new C++ projects its not too bad (except for limited formatting and IntelliSense functionality). I could get new projects up and running quickly and painlessly, and I liked the many build/debug features used in VS2005.

There are a lot of things better about 2005 that make it worth the jump from 2003. Most of them you'll just have to use the software yourself to realize, but a few big ones are:
-VASTLY improved intellisense, especially with ASP.NET pages,
-New language features with .NET 2.0,
-Rather intelligent and visually appealing positioning help in Windows forms,
-Improved XML support,
-Lots more

There are a few things that annoy me, from time to time, such as seemingly random bouts of sitting there for 30-40 seconds, looking like it's hung.
The website copy tool, while still something that 2003 didn't have, needs work.
Various other little things that need a tad of polishing.
Microsoft, HAS, however, promised a service pack, so I'm sure a lot of things will be fixed or enhanced.

Overall, I recommend this release as a smart upgrade from 2003 or earlier.

I just installed VS 2005 and found some the changes to be dramatic. Especially when writing ASP.Net programs. Gone is the grid layout (yahoo!) and the IDE does not change my hand coded HTML (finally). The addition of "master pages" has been talked about by many as a huge step, but it pales in comparison to "code snippets", "web parts", and other refinements and additions when using 2.0 .Net framework.

Upgrading several existing projects was easy and went smoothly. The process offered to make a backup of the project or website and then proceeded with the conversion.

As a small one man development team I am very pleased with the upgrade. I use SQL server (upgraded to 2005) and found the professional edition very handy because I could modify existing data through the IDE (a feature not included in the standard edition). This was critical because currently MS Access 2003 is unable to create databases or make changes to existing databases.

I've used development environments as diverse as the LISP environment on dedicated Symbolics machines, Smalltalk, Centerline C++ on Sun,Borland's C++ IDE in the early 90s, and Borland's Delphi. After working extensively in Delphi for years for both Windows and Web applications, I switched to Visual Studio for Web Development in 2003. I can say without a doubt that Visual Studio 2005 is the most productive environment in existence.

Everything about this environment save one thing (more below) is extremely well done. Some highlights in no particular order:

* The Intellisense tools are smooth and very quick (especially compared with Delphi)
* The project model is clean, simple and easy to modify (just copy files).
* Preparing a web site for distribution or upload is ridiculously easy
* C# is easily the most productive language available for general business development (I once mentored C++ for new developers at Bell Labs and have written my own Smalltalk environment so I don't say this lightly)
* Microsoft has made enormous strides in making web development as easy as VB's original drag and drop model
* The environment is easy to customize with macros, etc. and features a stellar array of productivity-enhancing features (outlining, refactoring, snippets, etc.)
* There is a broad selection of third-party tools that integration with Visual Studio.

Now, for all of its advantages, the one area where they could stand significant improvement is in the help system. For example, the help screens for most environment objects is essentially nothing more than the inheritance tree. It does essentially nothing to educate you about *how* a feature is used. This has been a problem for Microsoft for years and, unfortunately, VS 2005 has done nothing to improve the situation. Thus, you will want to have lots of web and/or written resources on hand when developing.

I cannot comment on the team development features as I work alone on the software sold by my company.

In balance, I've simply never seen a better development environment.

I did not get on the .NET bandwagon immediately because quite frankly I found VB.NET quite difficult at first to comprehend. And what took me a rather short time to do a project seemed to take me longer because the learning curve didn't sink in immediately. (I am a slow learner).

However, I am very excited about this 2005 edition because they have made some significant improvements with the platform and have made many VB6 programmers quite happy.

The first .NET that came out and the 2003 did not seem to catch on with many VB6 programmers. I think now things will start to change and many will start to think the transition is well worth it. I am one of these people. Microsoft has made a very good effort to make their loyal VB6 programmers happy with this new platform.

This is the best Visual Studio in awhile, but its still not there yet (especially for C++ developers, but its closer). On the positive side, C++ developers now have the cleaner syntax of C++ / CLI (there are battles raging about that name) which apparently is on a fast-track ISO certification. We shall see what happens. On the downside: still no STL / CLR dotNET. However, MS has a beta for DL, but its containers are not compatible with dotNET (yet). Good idea to stick with C# until this is fixed.

The UI tools continue to soar ahead for all the dotNET languages, and I don't see any difference between C++ and the others in that department anymore.
VB and C# both pick up edit & continue, good for me `cause I like grew used to it in C++. Call graphing is still only in C++.
The IDE UI is tabbed, and has line revision colors on all languages. Line numbering is optional, as always, but its still simply absolute lines (not code lines). This can be a pain going cross-platform with C++.

Datatips are pretty capable and improved, and can drill down into containers easily.
The help system is pretty much a flood. Too much information, and there is no way to directly determine where its pulling its information from. This bites when you have multiple Visual Studios & associated MSDNs & would like confirmation that its pulling the collections correctly.

As for the packaging, Visual Studio 2005 Professional edition comes with 2 product CDs, 3 MSDN CDs, and a Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Developer Edition DVD, a small product guide booklet, and two posters (one thats useless, and one of dotNET 2.0 namespaces).

3-stars, as the help system needs some work, and VC++ lacks an effective STL under dotNET.
Here's hoping for VS2007:)

I was impressed by the improvements made in Visual Studio 2005 over its predecessors. I have found C# support to be quite good, and web development sees to be also one of the best ones that I've tried.

However, for Java, C, and C++ development, it is light years behind its competitors. I have had excellent success with Eclipse for these three languages -- although Eclipse has not been that great with C# support. Regardless, I have found that Eclipse does put VS to shame in some of the most basic developer tasks, and I find that my hand motions are much more pronounced when I develop in VS (more clicking, etc.)

Overall, VS is still a nice product, although I am starting to question whether it's really worth all that money for C, C++ development.

I am very impressed with this version of Microsoft Visual Studio. It is very customizable, and has come a long way with regards to integrating various components into a project. The Intellisense in this version is far better than ever before, and the MSDN library that is included is a very valuable resource for any developer. I recommend this product to anyone who is involved or interested in software development.

A long time programmer I have worked with various studios and languages over the years and have seen substantial improvements over the years with the visual studio and expected noting less with Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2005. While the new studio offers new intellisence features and boasted several improvements I was looking for this version runs a little slower than previous versions because of processor and memory overhead requirements. Further using the new sdk introduced a few changes to the code operation when migrating old projects in. Over all an excellent package and have enjoyed the new features, but if you have VS2003 that may be the way to go if your concerned about upgrade and compatibility issues.