Develop with VS and VS Express?

Question

I currently develop C++ and C# applications with VS2008.

I have the need to have the IDE as well on our target demonstrator platform to debug and fix etc. Could I use the Express editions for that task or are there any major drawbacks?

Any experience is welcome, also for VS2010.

Answer 1

I use vs2008 at the buro and vs2008 c# excpess at home. the limitations i come across were

c# express doesn-t like solution folders containing projects and cannot load other project types (ie setup-projects, mstest projects).

i had no painful and limiting experience yet because i use nunit instead of mstest and only ms-databases. express has advanced options (disabled by default) that give you the debug/release build feature.

by the way you donot need a visual studio to debug dotnet-applications. the dotnet-sdk has a gui debugger that can do the job but it is not as comfortable as vs. to rebuild you can use msbuild.

Answer 2

You would only have to tweak things in order to compile for 64 bit (true only for 2008, that's easy in 2010), but no major functional drawback, except as Binary Worrier says it can be frustrating

However it is commonly accepted to have the full IDE on a target demo platform without buying another license, so why not deploying full IDE on it?

From About Licensing

Developer Tools – per user license

You must acquire a license for each user you permit to access or use the software. You may install any number of copies on any number of devices for access and use by one user to design, develop, test and demonstrate programs. Only licensed users may access the software.

Answer 3

I normally don't like to just post links as answers, but this Wikipedia Article covers the differences in depth.

I've personally found coming down from the full- to the express-editions painful and limiting, you're forever "bumping your head" off some limitation or missing feature, very frustrating.