Is Visual Studio worth the price?

Question

I only write small programs in VB.NET and nothing else. I mostly make network tools. I have been using VB express for sometime now. I was thinking about getting Visual Studio, but I am not sure if their are enough benefits for what I do to justify this. I only work alone. I only code in VB.NET.

What could Visual Studio offer me that the express version does not?

Are services easier to build in Visual Studio?

Answer 1

I would say no. The only people I know who pay for Visual Studio are software houses. I don't think there would be any real benefit for the type of programming you are doing.

Answer 2

Express is just lacking a few things. I like to import whole projects as references as opposed to linking to dlls (a main benefit is that for release builds, it links to the release builds for all files referenced). If I'm using multiple languages, like C# and VB.net, express falls apart. Another thing I miss is the autos window when debugging. Those two things alone probably don't justify the price tag of visual studio, but it is nice.

Answer 3

I don't prefer Visual Studio.

I don't know why but even with simpler codes I just kept running into trouble and I never had that with my old VB.net.

But that;s just my experience.