Resharper hits 1.0!
Visual Studio is finally progressing beyond the Stone Age of source code editing, thanks to JetBrains, the makers of IntelliJ: Resharper has hit 1.0, and it’s only $99 per user.
I’m not a Java developer. I can program in Java, but there’s a distinction between being a programmer and being a developer. It doesn’t take a Java guru, however, to appreciate a beautiful goddamn piece of editing software: IntelliJ just plain makes me drool with geek lust. Live templates, smart replacement, refactoring built in… it’s got everything you need to increase your productivity by an order of magnitude while developing in Java.
Meanwhile, I’m stuck with Visual Studio .NET 2003… it doesn’t have refactoring, variable renaming, live templates, or any of that. Sure, it has IntelliSense (and thank God for that), but that’s a long way from what it could be. Enter the greatness that is JetBrains, the maker of IntelliJ. Taking pity on us poor C# fools, they’ve created an add-in for Visual Studio called Resharper, which lets us harness some of the power of a modern source editing tool. If you haven’t seen it before, go download it right this instant. You will discover what it means to have a pleasurable programming experience.
Not only that, but they have this great idea: the early access program. Ryan posted an article about what he calls an “open development process”, where the users may download betas of the program, test it out, offer feedback, and there is a direct line of communication between the developers and the people who intend to use the software. Not only do the customers get what they want out of the product, but, when it comes time to release, you have a loyal customer base ready to sing your praises. I couldn’t agree more; I, too, wanted to do this while we were at OpenStorm. Oh, well…
I can’t remember the last time I’ve used so many links in one post. Whee!