IronPython :- Visual Studio 2010 or SharpDevelop?

Question

I'm considering developing a medium-size project for a client in IronPython. It's a pretty straightforward replacement for an existing system I've been supporting for several years, so the specification is quite well defined and understood.

This is my first significant IronPython and .Net project so I'm expecting a bit of a learning curve. I was going to use SharpeDevelop, but I can purchase VisualStudion 2010 for a reasonable price and whilst I understood that IronPython Tools for Visual Studio 2008 were not so good, I haven't seen anything about the update for 2010 yet.

Has anyone used either or both of these in a reasonable-sized commercial environment and do you have any recommendations?

(and I'm aware of this question, but this is specifically about VS2010)

Answer 1

Greetings;

From what I've followed and read on-line during the Visual Studio 2010 Beta program and after, there seems to be no direct IDE support for IronPython in Visual Studio .NET 2010: http://www.itwriting.com/blog/2158-why-f-rather-than-ironpython-in-visual-studio-2010.html

However, there is a Dynamic Language Runtime Support for the .NET 4.0 Framework using IronPython through a stable release of IronPython 2.6.1 on CodePlex: http://ironpython.codeplex.com/releases/view/36280, but again, there is no direct support for the Visual Studio .NET 2010 IDE.

As for IronPython support in SharpDevelop, the IDE has full support for WinForms and Console based applications, and debugger support for IronPython, including 2.6.1 and the .NET 4.0 Runtime beginning with SharpDevelop 3.2 RTW. Matt Ward, who has headed up the IronPython and SharpDevelop IDE integration efforts has been very active and helpful through the forums and his blog entries. I was working on a small project in IronPython using SharpDevelop, and for the questions and bug that I found during SharpDevelop 3.0 Beta 1, Matt's support and turnaound time for IronPython issues was tremendous.

With this in mind, if you're looking for the productivity gains of using an IDE, with source code debugging support for IronPython applications and all of the benefits of using the .NET 4.0 Framework and DLR Support, you may want to start with SharpDevelop.

I hope this was of help...

Answer 2

Considering that the IronPython Tools for VS2010 are "only" at the CTP stage, they're very high quality (anyone else would call them a beta). I've been using them when I can for a while now and haven't had any major issues. If you do have any issues with the VS2010 tools, the IronPython team is very open to feedback.

I haven't used SharpDevelop's tools, however, so I can't really compare them.

Answer 3

Here is a quick comparison of IronPython Tools for Visual Studio 2010 and SharpDevelop showing the features that one has which the other does not:

IronPython Tools for Visual Studio 2010 has:

• Better intellisense.
• WPF designer.
• Can edit your code without a project.
• Go to definition support.
• Find all references support.
• More comprehensive IronPython interactive window integration.

SharpDevelop has:

• WinForms designer.
• Code conversion support from C#, VB.NET to Python
• Compiles your IronPython code to an executable or class library.

Both of them are free. You can use IronPython Tools with the Visual Studio 2010 Shell (Integrated) which is a free download.