The .NET SDK vs. Visual Studio .NET

Editorial

The.NET SDK vs. Visual Studio .NET

By PaulLitwin

WhenVisual InterDev was introduced in 1996, ASP (Active Server Pages) was littlemore than the name of the extension of the pages that Visual InterDev produced.Visual InterDev 1.0 (and the subsequent release, Visual InterDev 6.0), however,had a number of problems, including buggy design-time controls and anassortment of installation and configuration issues. Despite Visual InterDev slimited success, ASP, the technology, became a huge hit. In fact, a very activecommunity of ASP developers sprang up and people started developing killer ASPapps without using Visual InterDev. That s when the term Visual Notepad wascoined.

Enter.NET. A lot of ASP developers are wondering if they should use the .NETFramework SDK (along with a text editor) or Visual Studio .NET for developingtheir ASP.NET sites.

The mostobvious reason to use a text editor and the .NET Framework SDK for your ASP.NETdevelopment is that it s free (assuming you re using Notepad or some othereditor that you already own). All you have to do is download the SDK (http://www.asp.net/download.aspx)to start creating ASP.NET applications. While this may be the most obviousreason, there are plenty of other reasons to follow this path. First, you mayprefer to use your favorite text editor instead of Visual Studio .NET. Second,there s plenty of resources, including the excellent quick start tutorials(part of the SDK docs) and many books (including the one Mike Amundsen and Iwrote, ASP.NET for Developers) on creating applications this way. Third,and this is a big one, this route leaves you in complete control. You re notforced to use code-behind files, for example, if you don t want to. Nor are youstuck with a lot of extra files clogging up your folders. Fourth, developingASP.NET applications using the SDK gives you a better understanding of howthings really work, which can t hurt. Finally, it just isn t that difficult touse the SDK and its command line tools to create ASP.NET applications.

So ifdeveloping with a text editor and the .NET Framework SDK is so great, why wouldanyone choose Visual Studio .NET? It s simple: the Visual Studio .NETintegrated development environment (IDE) makes ASP.NET development much easier.Using VS .NET you can build your Web forms visually by dragging and droppingserver controls onto the page. Double click to create event handlers. Easilycreate data-bound Web pages using wizards. One of my favorites: VS .NETincludes advanced IntelliSense support for programming code, HTML, and XML.(Microsoft isn t often credited with being innovative, but their invention ofIntelliSense several years ago has to be the coolest things to come to theworld of programming since the function.) VS .NET draws green squiggles undersyntax errors and supports code outlining. I could go on. Have I mentioned thewonderful validating XML editor? Or the fact that VS .NET takes care of most ofthe plumbing details, like when you wish to create a client to a Web Service?Simply navigate to the Web Service and Visual Studio takes care of creating andcompiling the proxy for you. Visual Studio .NET is the best developmentenvironment that Microsoft has produced to date.

So whichshould you use? Using the SDK, the command-line tools, and a text editor youget the ultimate in control and flexibility, but you have to work a littleharder. Visual Studio .NET contains a fabulous IDE that takes a lot of thetedium out of ASP.NET development, but at the price of control. Hats off toMicrosoft for giving us a choice. I suggest you try both and see which oneworks best for you.

Paul Litwinis editor-in-chief of asp.netPRO magazine. Readers may contact himat mailto:[email protected].