What is the difference between Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows and Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop?

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Eyalse picture Eyalse · Oct 17, 2013 · Viewed 178.9k times · Source
  1. What is the difference between Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows and Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop?
  2. Do they both support the exactly the same things as Visual Studio Express 2010 c#?
    1. Which is better? Visual Studio Express 2013 (C#) or 2010? The purpose - for school. THANKS!

Answer

IInspectable picture IInspectable · Oct 17, 2013

A comparison between the different Visual Studio Express editions can be found at Visual Studio Express (archive.org link). The difference between Windows and Windows Desktop is that with the Windows edition you can build Windows Store Apps (using .NET, WPF/XAML) while the Windows Desktop edition allows you to write classic Windows Desktop applications. It is possible to install both products on the same machine.

Visual Studio Express 2010 allows you to build Windows Desktop applications. Writing Windows Store applications is not possible with this product.

For learning I would suggest Notepad and the command line. While an IDE provides significant productivity enhancements to professionals, it can be intimidating to a beginner. If you want to use an IDE nevertheless I would recommend Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop.

Update 2015-07-27: In addition to the Express Editions, Microsoft now offers Community Editions. These are still free for individual developers, open source contributors, and small teams. There are no Web, Windows, and Windows Desktop releases anymore either; the Community Edition can be used to develop any app type. In addition, the Community Edition does support (3rd party) Add-ins. The Community Edition offers the same functionality as the commercial Professional Edition.

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