ReSharper Value Proposition
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)
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.
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!
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..
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