I wish that Visual Studio was more colorful

[AlitCandle]

http://robert.hurst-ri.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/codeblocks.jpg

It is depressing to look at when compared to code blocks.

[Disch]

I've never seen anything that tops Visual Assist. It differentiates between macros, function names, variables, and typenames and allows you to highlight all of them differently.

EDIT: and this was maybe ~8 years ago when I last used it.

[1yR4jE8b]

Disagree, code::blocks syntax highlighting is like shoving nails in my eyes. I prefer Visual Studio's more minimalistic approach. If you don't understand your code because your text isn't highlighted a certain way, there's something wrong.

[NGen]

Disch - It's only gotten better.

I much prefer Visual Studio for its syntax highlighting, but at the same time I DO wish it was more colorful.

[ozUkoG1T]

Viusal studios is much better in color but even though i use visual studio 2010 i suggest you should get code blocks as i heard that it is free and has somewhat less features but as it is free it is an good option to choose from
but i tried them 2 but still prefer Microsoft visual studio ultimate

[kaseron]

And Code::Blocks has the advantage of being open source.

[htirwin]

What I don't like about VS, is that it has uses it's own proprietary windows only compiler. What compiles in VS wont necessarilly compile with GCC. Using The same compiler on all platforms has an advantage.

[Disch]

I used Code::Blocks when I was on Ubuntu. It was nice, but the debugger interface was pretty clunky.

What compiles in VS wont necessarilly compile with GCC. Using The same compiler on all platforms has an advantage.

I try to make sure my code compiles in both VS and GCC.

[naraku9333]

@iseeplusplus
But it is also true that what compiles with GCC wont necessarily compile with VS, static arrays with non-constant size comes to mind. Code::Blocks is a fine IDE but I prefer Eclipse for testing code, I also like my code to compile with both.

[AlitCandle]

What is the difference between ultimate and express? Besides the fact that ultimate cost 4000 dollars.

[Ikaron]

Here's the color for my Visual Studios.. (2008 standard edition).. They're not the best representations I could find on short notice, as they don't really include every case you could encounter a different color but I think they can at least show that VS can easily be just as colorful.

C++
http://i.imgur.com/7YwRG.png

C#
http://i.imgur.com/RJJGs.png

[NGen]

Ikaron: I WANT IT.

AlitCandle: Ultimate provides a lot more tools for team-based projects and allows for more useful plugins. These plugins can be proprietary, which would make it a boon for larger companies which have giant frameworks in place that must be interacted with during development. Other than that, though, I'm not aware of much.

[Disch]

white text on black window is wretched. You are wretched.

Especially when all the other windows (solution explorer, debugger output) is black text on white bg.

[Ikaron]

Well fuck you too. :P Think I'll just go back to lurking.

[Disch]

sorry sorry. ^^

I forgot sarcasm comes across poorly over the internet

[Ikaron]

It's especially difficult to tell with programmers. :B For every programmer that would be sarcastic there's a Linus Torvalds.

As an aside, the debugger output isn't black text on white, it's a matching dark gray background and greenish text. I'd deal with the rest of the window if Windows gave me more theme customization.

A few years ago, on XP, I had my entire desktop themed dark so the VS color scheme worked out better.
http://i.imgur.com/VvGAn.png

[Catfish2]

Problem is ...

Especially when all the other windows (solution explorer, debugger output) is black text on white bg.

Solution could be ...

A few years ago, on XP, I had my entire desktop themed dark so the VS color scheme worked out better.

Thanks for writing my post for me!

[Ikaron]

Unfortunately I havn't found a way to effectively do the same thing in Windows 7. xD

[Gaminic]

You can change the colour of each different character in VS if you wish. I prefer a little less colour over the EVERYTHING IS THE RAINBOW strategy.

Ultimate provides a lot more tools for team-based projects and allows for more useful plugins. These plugins can be proprietary, which would make it a boon for larger companies which have giant frameworks in place that must be interacted with during development. Other than that, though, I'm not aware of much.

It comes with a decent built-in profiler, which apparently is difficult to find for Windows. Definitely not worth the price for most people, though. The Ultimate license is about the same price range as my house.

[retep998]

The new Visual Studio 2012 comes with a built-in dark theme which looks absolutely amazing. It's clean, minimalistic, and I've never gone back since.

http://blogs.msdn.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-01-29-92/3716.01_5F00_RTM.png