Visual Studio 2005- Improved coding in the IDE

Truth be told, I have never used the Bookmarks feature in Visual Studio 2002 or 2003 or a lot of other IDE features for that matter. I always thought it was pretty weak. Besides, I just want to start laying down lines of code. On the VS Edit menu is the Bookmarks item. There are only a few things you can do: add a bookmark, remove one, clear all of them, go to the next one, previous one, and...OK, that's it. If I am going to learn IDE features when there are deadlines to meet, it had better be good.

Well, in VS 2005 things are much, much better. It's a feature that I will actually use, and it could help you meet the deadlines. Why? Because, you now get a helpfu list of the bookmarks you have added. Here's the scenario: you are working on a project with lots of files, lots of code, and it is seeing frequent changes. Normally, you are a scroll-monster (turn that index finger loose as you try to get to that method you keep changing!). Well, now with a genuinely useful bookmark feature, you can just bookmark it. With the Bookmarks pane showing, you can see what is bookmarked and go directly to those locations. Simple but effective.

Another cool new feature is revision marks. VS will add a color (default is yellow) to the far left of your code lines that you have changed during the current session in the IDE. I usually have to textdiff the file AFTER I am done. Now, I can see what has changed as I go easily.

Rock Thought for the Day: As you know, I like some of my music heavy. The band Chimaira go for ultra heavy, but with mixed results. Musically, there is a lot to applaud here. The signature song "Nothing Remains" is indebted to Metallica in the "And Justice for All" era without any doubt. This song takes the kick drum technique to a new level. It's exhausting. The solos are multi-textured and multi-voiced. Regrettably, the vocals are interchangeable with pretty much any cookie-monster style vocals of too many metal bands. It's just not creative, and it sounds too much like that pavement grinder that's been part of the re-surfacing project on a road I use to get home. What a shame. Look, James Hetfield is exploring new vocal territory with great success. Given that Chimaira have followed Metallica's musical lead, with vocals they should do the same.

Rock On

Comments

• Anonymous
  August 07, 2005
  The other cool addition along with making bookmarks useful is the two navigation toolbar buttons between the Redo and Start Debugging. They hold the complete history (forwards, backwards) of where you placed the cursor and you can break it down by file!
• Anonymous
  August 08, 2005
  I agree, Daniel. Debugging is getting easier all of the time. Now, if VS could just write all of my code for me.