ReSharper Value Proposition

March 25th, 2008

I’m still one of those freaks that insists on having ReSharper around to code with.  When I go to a client, I ask (politely) that they get it for all of their developers.  When I talk at a user group I tell the attendees (not so politely) to get it.

But the one question comes up all the time: is it really worth it.  Then someone else will state how they don’t even use the features that are built into Visual Studio as is.

You need ReSharper.  (note: if you are a CodeRush/Refactor user…carry on, it is also a fine tool)

Anyway, JetBrains just published a comparison matrix between ReSharper and naked Visual Studio.  For me, the value is in these areas: Navigation, Coding Assistance, and Unit Testing.  Everything aside from those is just gravy.  (personal TODO: record a coding session using Camtasia)

Check it out.

For myself though, that isn’t the comparison I want to see.  I want to see a comparison between ReSharper and CodeRush (I’d do it, but I don’t have the time).  This is a comparison where I expect no clear winner, but I know these tools differ quite a bit.

Chris Brandsma

  • http://bigjimindc.blogspot.com/ BigJimInDC

    If CodeRush can do this:

    http://resharper.blogspot.com/2007/05/jedi-way-coding-in-reverse.html

    then just maybe CodeRush could be useful for me. But if it can’t, well, that’s the number one reason I could not live/code without ReSharper. As you said, all of the rest, for as nice as it is, is just gravy!

  • http://elegantcode.com trasa

    I watched over the shoulder of someone on a woefully underpowered machine, trying to use Visual Studio 2005 and R# – it was *painful* to watch the solution load, and then watch that R# “loading..” progress bar slowly wind itself up.

    In that case, the advice wasn’t “get ReSharper,” it became “Man, get this guy a real computer!!” After we replaced that laptop with something that had some memory in it, R# was no problem.

    So be warned: if your development machine is already marginal for Visual Studio, then R# will drive that thing into the ground. So, first, get yourself some real hardware, then RUN don’t walk to get ReSharper..

  • http://www.elegantcode.com Jarod

    ReSharper rules. Period. If you dont have it, get it, if you cant run it, by a bigger computer, if you cant get a bigger computer, then you should learn Ruby :) ~ (I kid I kid)

    Seriously though, R# has made me a better developer, and has saved me countless hours in refactoring & testing. #1 tool.

    If you dont have the link, here is the R# ver 4 EAP nightly builds for VS 2008/3.5
    http://www.jetbrains.net/confluence/display/ReSharper/ReSharper 4.0 Nightly Builds

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