SharpDevelop is an open-source (GPL) IDE for C# and VB.NET projects on the .NET platform (Mono port in the works). This 0.98 release has seen a complete rewrite of the text editor (it is now much faster), which also should be now much easier reuseable as a control in other applications. Also new by (very) popular request is the Tools/Options/Text Editor- Highlighting panel. It allows you to modify the syntax highlighting that is used inside #develop.
SharpDevelop 0.98b Released
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Don’t hold your breath for a mono port in the near future. The #WT porting effort is at a standstill and there are still other issues that need to be worked out(such as the magic library) before a mono port is viable.
For those of us running windows 98 still(I’ve got the winxp pro cd, but have been too lazy to install it), getting sharpdevelop to work under it just got a bit more complicated.
Before this release, you could do a search for FileSystemWatcher and just comment out all references to it and go ahead and do your compile and things worked fine. Now there are a couple other issues to contend with. First, the nant version supplied with this release no longer runs under windows98. I went ahead and tried to use the sharpdevelop97 supplied version but apparently some syntax for the nant build files have changed and the previous nant version won’t recognize the way you tell the compiler to compile for unsafe code. The company that produces the magic library no longer even supplies a free compiled dll so the sharpdevelop team is using a modified version of the gpl version so that has to be compiled now.
I guess it’s time to install XP
Actually I tried out Sharpdevelop some days ago and it was great…good for me!
That is really the only thing that keeps me from adopting #Develop as my main IDE.
The kde IDE KDevelop can embed vim. Check out the screenshot at the KVim websit ( http://www.freehackers.org/kvim/screenshots.html )
They say that is being worked on and when that’s there then I will be interested in looking again.
Last time I looked at it (.96?) it had some interface issues but really being a VB/ASP monkey thats what I want to see. Once they think they have that in some form, I’ll see if the editor is better.
Not nitpicking because I believe this is a sterling effort and am very pleased someone is doing it. It is just not *currently* suitable for me.
Last I checked no forms designer for VB. C# has one though. Guess I will be shelling out cash for more MS stuff.
xmp
I can’t wait for the mono port. Oh and hopefully it will make it into the freebsd ports collection.
they are porting to mono (their core already works on mono) and if i got it right they are using swf so i think it should run on other platforms in the forseeable future
re: VB.NET code completion:
not to start some religious discussion or something, but why are you sticking to VB.NET? i find c# a lot more consistent and it’s defaults encourage good coding styles (declare variables, strong typing, case sensitivity which makes code more readable,…)
As far as the mono porting goes, the plans are to use a port of SWT(what eclipse uses) to c# and then use that for both the .NET version and the mono version. As I mentioned in a previous post, the #WT effort is pretty stalled at the moment(at least from what I can see from the mailing list) and the core team is busy working on a 1.0 release.
VB.NET code completion and forms designer will be in the 1.0 release which is not that far off.
The lead developer, Mike Krueger, is a linux user/developer so I’m sure more effort will go into the mono port once 1.0 comes out.
What I think would be interesting is if someone would rip out everything that works on mono and maybe port the new TextEditor and whatever else that will work on mono to gtk# or some other toolkit. WXwindows.NET seems to work pretty well on mono. The new lexer/parser should probably work on mono, so at least you could have intellisense(code-completion) and maybe a symbol browser and some menus or whatever.
DotGNU is making headway on its Windows Forms implementation so that is another interesting choice.
I doubt Sharpdevelop is ever going to be quite as portable as say Eclipse, so maybe a traditional type port(ala Mozilla) makes more sense. I, for one, don’t exactly coding in c# in vim or emacs, so getting some kind of IDE(even if it’s not a perfect Sharpdevelop) would be great.
Vim is a great editor(I’ve been using it for c/c++ work for years), but there are shortcomings when doing java/c# work.
There’s a no intellisense, ala what Eclipse, IDEA, or VS.NET have. Actually, there is a project that does have vim intellisense for java (just type “vim intellisense” in google and it’ll be the first hit), but it only works on windows.
From reading vim mailing lists there appears to be problems with loading shared libraries under non-windows platforms. The code is very windows specific too, using about every feature of windows(MFC) and all sorts of other stuff.
The other issue is that developers(especially java devlopers) have seen what IDEs like Eclipse, IDEA, and VS.NET can do and, whether you like it or not, are not going to be very interesting in what the vim-kindof IDE project agile is going to offer. Bram Moolnar(the creater of vim) just doesn’t seem to have any inclination in creating a “modern” ide with vim at it’s core. That’s fine, it’s his baby.
Of course, if you just want vim keybinding then most IDE’s will allow you to do this. You won’t get all of vim’s functionality(except maybe for Visual Studio, where you can embed a Vim OLE within the IDE itself), but at least you have your vim keystrokes.
http://www.dotnetcoders.com/web/Articles/ShowArticle.aspx?article=4…
Mandatory plug for Jedit:
This is a sweet editor!
If you’re looking for an EASY TO USE*, cross platfom jack-of-all trades editor to complement your IDE you might want to take a look.
Syntax highlighting for 80+ languages, excellent folding support (some of the best I’ve seen), runs on any platform currently supported by Java, and a wonderful plugin architecture (which is what makes it so powerful).
Some plugins I’ve found indispensable:
SuperScript – A plugin based on Apache BSF that lets you write and use macros in 19 scripting languages (yep scipting in Ruby, Python, Perl :-D)
Templates – Dynamic templates that use the Apache Velocity templating engine! Everything from template nesting to changing elements in the current buffer via your template selection. Not only that you can also hot key your templates (use accelerators) so you don’t have mess around with the mouse while coding.
TaskList – A task list/note system similar to what is in Eclipse. You make a comment with a special tag such as DEBUG: and it pops on your TaskList for quick jumping.
MacroManager – Browse and install macros provided by the Jedit community. Similar to the Plugin Browser.
There are great plugins for Class Browsing, Project Management, themeing, Java (emacs Xrefactor has been ported to Jedit), ctag use, etc.
* When I say Easy to Use don’t mean optionless ala Gnome :-p
I mean its quick and easy to setup the options you prefer. Most of them are at your finger tips via menus. No silly elisp to write.
I downloaded 0.97 and like the look of but, until I noticed it was hogginf about 130MB of memory .net is just too greedy 🙁
Did you quit the application and load it the 2nd time? The reason being that the 1st time you ever start up, SharpDevelop indexes all those help files, and a lot of memory gets allocated and used. Subsequent runs should take less memory.
That said, I’ve found that SharpDevelop is competing with Netbeans for biggest memory hog.