Average Rating: 
Rating:  - The Great Leap Forward
My apologies to Chairman Mao, but I've been using the beta version of VS.Net for several weeks now, and its advances are impressive. For VB programmers, there is a new, fully object-oriented version of the language that stands on an equal footing with C. For C++ programmers, there is C#, which combines the power of C with the RAD features of VB. It really is possible to knock out a Windows application in a morning! Finally, for Java programmers who are a bit frustrated with the quirks of that language, C# is a Java clone that is easy to learn, that has most of the power that Java left out, and that has a really spectacular IDE. I haven't raved about anything since VB3, but I'm raving about this.
Rating: - .NET - .GET
This studio is leagues beyond the last. Microsoft is easing the burden of developers by simplifying distributed application development using .NET. Sure, for instance, you can go in and manually write the low level COM interface connectors if you prefer to have the "stick shift" control and specific performance attributes etc., or you can rely on the built in functionality of .NET and speed the development process. It seems that with this platform there is a bit of a learning curve even for the most experienced developers because of the great differences. But the online help is dynamic and useful when you get stuck on something. Visual Basic is not Visual Basic now. They seemed to have completely renovated the way VB works. The Common language Runtime (CLR) makes it possible to create solutions by interweaving any of the languages included with the studio. I believe there is a way to import 3rd party or future MS designed languages as well. So if one language is better at a specific task, then you can switch to it. The integrated development environment (IDE) is meant to maximize developer productivity. In using it, I haven't experienced the contrary. I must mention that I do like the flexibility of working on web applications in .NET. You can use a grid layout like a form builder, or the flow layout like a web page editor. I noticed a couple of funny things so far, but not worth mentioning. It takes some getting used to, but this is certainly worth it.
Rating: - True Object Oriented IDE from Microsoft
As a java developer, who got a little curious, I wanted to see what Visual Studio.net (professional edition) offers to a developer. During installation, the first thing that I noticed is the 2 gig disk space that the professional edition requires. After the installation, I test drove the IDE and I have to admit that I was not disappointed with Visual Studio .NET. Here is why.Well-Integrated IDE: -
This is by far the best suite of Microsoft languages and tools. It contains the new Visual Basic .NET, which is totally object oriented and also Visual C# .NET that I found easy to use. The ASP .NET really captured my vote at how easy it was to create asps. The Visual Studio .NET provides thousands of .NET framework classes making a developers life easy and simple. The similarity to the J2EE framework indicates that that the .NET framework has the capabilities of delivering object oriented enterprise applications. A downside is that, Windows .Net servers and windows operating systems are automatically included into the application environment. This environment may not be desired in all circumstances. Web services: -
XML Web services are built on XML, SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI specifications and can be built or consumed by your application without having to write the plumbing code yourself. The tools does it for you. All I had to do was to define my function that I want exposed as a web service and it was automatically deployed for me. I like that in an IDE. Great Documentation and User interfaces: -
Trust Microsoft to woo you with good looks. The user interface is very intuitive and limiting my reference manual lookups. Even when I needed help, all I had to do was open up my help window and I had access to context sensitive help all the time. Microsoft has done a very nice job there. Unfulfilled wishes :-
Built-in UML modeling. No architecture is complete without models. MS Visio 2002 integration is made available but I don't have a copy of that installed to see whether there is code synchronization with the models. I think that not providing this feature severely limits the use of vs.net as an IDE of choice for enterprise apps.
Another feature conspicuous by its absence is a built-in automated unit-testing framework, something similar to JUnit testing framework. Finally, I think that this is a very powerful IDE and it is very developer friendly. For those that are open to any technology, Windows .NET servers and Microsoft Visual Studio .NET is definitely a viable option.
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