Are you getting ready to start a new development project and considering using .NET as your programming framework of choice? That’s not surprising. After all, .NET is one of the most widely regarded frameworks out there.
If you’re planning to start a new .NET project, there are a few tools that are worth using with your projects. Below are five tools that make working with the .NET framework an easier task.
1. LINQpad
It’s hard to find an app that doesn’t use a database to run these days. If you want to store user information and provide features, you’ll need a way to capture and store data. That’s where your database helps.
The good news is that you don’t have to write SQL queries by hand anymore. The .NET language uses LINQ to connect to your database through code. LINQpad allows you to test your LINQ queries, so you know for sure right away if the code you write grabs the correct data.
2. Team Explorer
Source control is essential to keeping a record of your project changes. It gives you an easy way to revert to old code versions if you make a mistake with your project.
Team Explorer helps you manage your source code repositories. It connects to both Microsoft TFS and Git, so you can use whatever source control solution you want.
3. NUnit
It’s not too difficult to test a program when it’s small. You’re only dealing with a few lines of code, so it’s easy to debug simple logic. As your program grows in complexity, that changes.
NUnit is a unit testing framework that lets you write automated tests for your program. Doing this means you can do quick checks to make sure your program functions as intended when making significant changes.
4. NuGet
NuGet is one one the essential .NET developer tools that you can’t do without on your project. You’ll work with a lot of 3rd party packages as a developer. You don’t want to track down each one that you need to install manually.
Whether it’s C# ITextSharp, Git, or Newtonsoft.JSON, you can find it in NuGet. All you need to do is type what you want, and NuGet will automatically install your code library.
5. .NET Reflector
Even though 3rd party components are great at giving you a head start in your project, they sometimes come with problems. Many of them are compiled, which means you can’t see how they work.
That’s a problem if you run into unique issues with your .NET application. The .NET Reflector plugin will give you a look at how a compiled 3rd assembly runs.
Now You Can Take Your .NET Project to Success
While .NET offers .NET developers a lot of features to make their lives easier, there’s still a lot you can do to improve your developer experience. Explore the tools above for use in your new .NET project to find the ones that will help you get your work completed on time.
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