Hi, I would like to study C# but I'm intimidated by Visual Studio's price tag. Any free/opensource alternatives? Thanks.
+31
A:
Visual Studio Express is Microsoft's free version: http://www.microsoft.com/express/windows/
James Hollingshead
2010-09-04 04:12:46
+9
A:
Besides Visual Studio Express, I think MonoDevelop is pretty good too. It also exists for Linux and Mac. It is open-source and free - and, as the name suggest, have the Mono Project behind it so it is actively developed and will be in the future.
lasseespeholt
2010-09-04 04:14:22
+1 for an options
linuxuser27
2010-09-04 04:16:11
+2
A:
While I'd probably go with Visual Studio Express, as others have said, note that Sharp Develop also exists:
[SharpDevelop] is a free IDE for C#, VB.NET and Boo projects on Microsoft's .NET platform.
Michael Petrotta
2010-09-04 04:16:22
+15
A:
Also if you are a student you may be eligible for the Microsoft DreamSpark program where you can get all the professional versions of Visual Studio for free.
hydrogen
2010-09-04 04:16:34
+1 for DreamSpark. There is also the MSDN AA program where you can get software for free (Windows, VS etc.) if you are at a high-school, university etc.
lasseespeholt
2010-09-04 04:20:16
@Mark - hope you're aware of the fact that the license is valid only for the period you are student :)
devnull
2010-09-06 07:28:35
Actually, MSDN-AA licenses state that you can keep the software installed after graduation but you are no longer entitled to receive any updates.
jbinto
2010-09-08 18:43:29
A:
I like Sharp Develop's embedded Boo interpreter. I do not use it often, but when I do it is a time saver: instead of writing a small program to test some .net class (or method) I have not used often, I create an instance in the interpreter and try there.
Arto Viitanen
2010-09-06 05:31:24
+1
A:
You may also want to have a look at this Eclipse plugin for C# if you are already familiar with the Eclipse IDE.
Johann Blais
2010-09-06 07:08:42