Introduction to Visual Studio 2013

Introduction

In this article, I am presenting the new Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Preview. I personally believe that there has never been a better time to be a Software Developer. In our world every company is a software company and every developer has the responsibility to develop the new breed of application. Every developer must build creative and more helpful and reliable solutions for the user.

In that context, last week the Build 2013 developer conference releases the third update for Visual Studio 2012. The first and second updates had been released in November. Both of these updates includes Windows Desktop Development, Windows Store Development, SharePoint Development, Quality Enablement and more. The third update is an incrementally similar update from its two predecessors, but it is focused primarily on bug fixes. Visual Studio 2013 includes a number of improvements to help the developer to be more productive and remaiin focused. Productivity features such as bracket completion and the ability to move code lines or blocks using key-board shortcuts. Visual Studio 2013 also launches a new team explorer with an enhanced Home Page that provides easier navigation for the developer.

.NET

With the launch of Visual Studio 2013, Microsoft introduced .NET 4.5.1. The .NET 4.5.1 is highly-compatible with Windows 8.1 and includes all installations of Windows 8.1 preview. Visual Studio 2013 improves the debugging and general diagnostics experience for the developer. As an example, .NETdevelopers have been asking for a feature that has been available for a while for C++ developers: a method returning a value in the debugger, even if those values are never stored into any declared variable. With .NET 4.5.1 this compatibility is now built in.

Another change from Microsoft, Edit and continue is enabled. With which the developer can change the code while the code is stopped at a breakpoint in the debugging mode. There is no need to restart the application and change the code.

Web Development Advancements

Microsoft provides developers many options to create new websites and services with ASP.NET Web Forms, Web Applications and WCF. Previously, each of these approaches work with separate project types. Visual Studio 2013 enabled the creation of ASP.NET applications using the preference of ASP.NET component framework within a single project. The ASP.NET developer can create all versions, like Web Forms and MVC in a single project.

Icon Colors

In Visual Studio 2013, Microsoft added color to a large number of icons to increase their visibility and recognizability.

Icon

Microsoft introduced a new systematic design for icons, most notably the family of icons that are item-related.



Reference

blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2013/06/27/designing-the-visual-studio-2013-user-experience.aspx