Why would you choose SharpDevelop over Visual Studio for coding in C#?

c# visual-studio sharpdevelop
Martin Vseticka picture Martin Vseticka · Jul 21, 2010 · Viewed 28.8k times · Source

I've encountered SharpDevelop a few times before but I don't know anyone who actually programs in it. Would you recommend it for medium size projects in C#?

Subquestions: Is there a difference in speed of compiling? (Article is about multi-threading compliling in SharpDevelop)

Thanks for answers!

Answer

Sky Sanders picture Sky Sanders · Jul 21, 2010

There is absolutely no compelling reason to choose SharpDevelop over Visual Studio if you have the choice and the budget.

Visual Studio is by far the best IDE on the market, and I have used quite a few.

And, as Marty says in comments, he is a student. At http://www.dreamspark.com any student can get free, full professional versions of most all of the Visual Studio and Windows SKU's.

Visual Studio is also offered without cost in less featured versions labeled 'Express'

If you are not a student (or don't know one, wink wink) and on a budget, and the VS express versions don't have the features you need, then SharpDevelop would be a good way to go.

I am not an MS fanboy, just in case you are wondering.

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