Software

• Ideal for the part-time or occasional developer to develop and deploy client-server based Windows, Web, SmartPhone, and Pocket PC applications
• "Drag and drop" user interface designers for virtually every type of application; Master Pages support for maintaining a consistent look and feel across Web applications
• Edit and Continue for simple, intuitive debugging; integrated ClickOnce support

• Complete development environment with comprehensive application development features, including improved visual designers, code editors, and programming languages for optimum productivity.
• Build tools that extend the Visual Studio Integrated Development enviroment using the Visual Studio Software Developers Kit.
• Visual designers, code editors, and programming languages for optimum productivity.

• Desktop-based solution for developers working alone or in small teams
• Easily return to a previous version of a file; Unicode and XML support
• Provides users with remote Web access over HTTP

• Brand new Full Retail box

• Robust set of tools for building database solutions; easy to upgrade
• Enhanced SQL language capabilities; extensible new output architecture
• Build stand-alone and remote applications for Windows-based Tablet PCs

• Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 is the single fastest way to develop applications for any of the modern Microsoft Windows environments, period.
• Visual Basic supports all of Microsoft's solutions for database access, distributed computing, componentized software.
• Support for dynamic load balancing across servers.

This package includes the Windows 2000 Developer's Readiness Kit (also called the Plus Pack). Learn how to take advantage of new Windows 2000 features through in-depth, step-by-step training and technical resources. Get an overview of the Windows 2000 Web Services to build scalable Internet applications. Harness the power of the new COM+ services, including integrated-component management features, transaction processing between objects, and support for dynamic load balancing across servers. Use the Visual Studio Installer to create setup programs that feature easy installation and self-repair.

• Develop for Windows and the Web. Now you can easily build the smallest ActiveX controls,

Microsoft’s .NET tools are very different from their predecessors. Visual C++ can still compile standard Windows executables, but the other languages all target the .NET Framework, a runtime engine and class library that manages memory and enforces security. Framework applications perform well, since they are compiled to native code at runtime, but there is an overhead in terms of memory usage and the Framework runtime must be installed. In compensation, .NET brings many advantages. All the languages are fully object-oriented, the class library is rich, and XML support is fully integrated. ASP.NET is for web applications, and represents a large advance on the old ASP. Instead of script, ASP.NET supports any of the .NET languages, running on the server and just-in-time compiled to native code. There is a visual web page designer, and carefully designed applications support a wide range of browsers. New in this version of Visual Studio is Mobile Web Forms, which use adaptive rendering to support the browsers in mobile phones and PDAs. The database technology in Visual Studio is called ADO.NET, and uses a disconnected model that is ideal for laptops, smart devices, and wide area networks.

Visual Studio .NET Enterprise Architect 2003 is the top of the range. It’s the only version to include Visio, a drawing and modelling tool with integrated reverse-engineering and code-generation, though sadly not full round-tripping. There are also developer licenses for the key Microsoft server platforms, including Windows Server 2003, Exchange 2000 Server, Biztalk Server and SQL Server 2000. Another key component is the Visual SourceSafe code management system, which is especially important for team development, Application Center Test, for stress-testing web applications, and Enterprise Templates which let architects design and deploy best practices for project development. For those wondering whether to make the jump to .NET, this release is probably the right moment to go ahead. The technology is maturing, and the inclusion of the Compact Framework makes the package more compelling. The deep XML support on offer is essential for many enterprise applications and enables integration with other platforms. It’s still important to note the heavy system requirements, and that .NET applications do not run on Windows 95. In most cases, the higher productivity of .NET languages soon pays for any additional resources. --Tim Anderson, Amazon.co.uk

The strength of the Visual C++ Integrated Development Environment (IDE) is its overall usability and polished user interface. From top to bottom it provides a robust set of code management tools, plus built-in debugging abilities. To get started, the AppWizard tool lets you generate skeleton code for a wide variety of project types, including building applications that take advantage of the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), a powerful C++ class library. In just a few minutes, we generated the "skeleton code" for a full-featured Windows application.

Other wizards help simplify development throughout the project development cycle. The ClassView tool makes it easy to browse source your C++ code. (Instead of worrying about the files that your code resides in, you can treat your C++ code in a truly object-oriented manner.) A big win for any Visual C++ user is Microsoft's excellent instant pop-up help system (called IntelliSense). As you write code, the IDE gives you a list of all available C++ methods and properties so you can minimize typing.

Another wizard that simplifies many aspects of development is the ClassWizard, used for deriving new classes from old ones automatically, as well as attaching MFC code to Windows messages (like clicking a mouse or pressing a key). Other integrated tools include the ResourceView tool for designing visual resources like dialog boxes and bitmaps.

Once you have written your program, you will need to debug it. Visual C++'s powerful debugger makes it easy to test your code. Besides setting breakpoints, you can view variables easily using watch variables. Standout features here include being able to highlight variables and inspect their contents within the code source window. You can also drag and drop variables to the watch window, a timesaving feature.

With its rich array of features, Visual C++ continues to be the compiler of choice for Windows development pros. The Standard Edition provides an affordable, entry-level version of this topnotch C++ tool. --Rich Dragan