C# Express is here!

Well the Beta release is here, at any case. In fact, it’s so completely and utterly here that you can download and install right now from the MSDN Express site.

C# Express is designed especially for students, hobbyists and anyone who wants a download a lightweight version of Visual Studio that can still create amazing applications. If you’ve been putting off trying C#, this is the perfect way to see it in action: complete with the excellent Visual Studio (codename “Whidbey”) IDE. It’s a complete, standalone C# development environment. What are you waiting for? Try it!

As a programmer/writer here in the User Education team, my job involved the online help system. C# Express comes with some unique help, and some help borrowed from the “full size” Visual Studio release. There’s also extra help available – MSDN Express – and the help system can also grab content from the web.

By the way, if after installing Express you don’t see much help, make sure the default filter isn’t set to .NET Compact Framework. You can see this from the Index view – select (no filter) instead.

In this Beta release, the online help focuses on introducing the key C# language features. Over the next few weeks I’ll point out some useful tricks for making the most of help. I’m also keen to hear from you about extra content you would like to see in the future.