Item: Microsoft Visual Studio
Rating: 5
Author: Adam Lauer

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

.NET is the backbone of all our coding infrastructure for the systems projects. It is the main framework we use for Windows services and APIs. We code in c# in Visual Studio using the latest .Net framework. It supported hundreds of services andAPIs running live in production. It is an integral part of the services/systems teams.

Pros and Cons

Provide a framework for basic programmatic functionality
Stay up to date with the latest Object-Oriented trends
Compatibility across versions

Takes up a lot of space on computer and can run slow
Beginning to splinter and could be consolidated
Cannot be ported outside of Windows environment

Return on Investment

Easy development in Windows environment
Very painful to port or migrate projects to a UNIX based system
Get updates and new functionality frequently

Alternatives Considered

This is really a IDE and framework and thus can be compared to the like of Eclipse and Java or Xcode and Swift. I do not have much experience with these, but from what I do here is the simplest breakdown. Java is open source and gives you way more functionality, but is harder to maintain and requires more work. Swift is more primitive, but what it does it does very well. The big difference is Java is platform agnostic, Swift is for Macs, and .Net is for Windows. Pick your poison.

Other Software Used

Eclipse Luna

Likelihood to Recommend

If you are a Windows shop then Visual Studio.Net is a must. This is best if you are running off of azzure and using Microsoft services. If you are outside of Windows and want to run on Unix-based systems this is not suited at all for you. dotnet core is not baked enough to be a viable option.

Visual Studio.Net - Meant for Windows shops

Overall Satisfaction with Visual Studio.NET