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VB.NET 2005 Gets Refactoring!

The VB team took alot of heat for the fact that C# had much better refactoring tools than VB.NET.  Quite frankly, I also felt that this was a painfull lacking and only added fuel to the "VB isn't a serious language" fire.  The main reason this functionality was missing from VB was simply a matter of priorities / lack of time before release. 

Well, the VB team has come up with a great solution to answer this need - they have worked out a deal to include the Refactor! tool with VB 2005.

Read about it here and then download the VS Beta 2 version here (use this download link, not the incorrect one on the MS site).

2 Comments

  • The link on the MSDN site is correct. The reason it does not point directly to the bits is two folder.



    First there will be new versions and builds between now and the RTM of Visual Studio. The general downloads page will always have the most current.



    Second, if you link directly to the bits you miss the possibility to register on the general download page. By register you get notified of all of the newer builds. In addition, after RTM, registered users will get some additional refectoring options.

  • If you think having a plug-in to help you refactor code makes a language a "serious" language, then you need to quit the profession.



    VB6 was a child's toy. Now that .NET is an (almost) completely object oriented development language, it is a full fledged serious development platform.



    Is this new refactoring nice? Yes. Absolutely. However, it is just bells and whistles. Nice, but not make-or-break. As long as developers have the ability to work programmatically with the IDE, anything feasible is doable. The fact that we don't (yet) have 100% programmatic control is the ONLY thing that makes the entire VS suite less than stellar.



    I've written several plug-ins to improve productivity. It is nice to get things done many times faster with the added tools. To some, refactoring might be a major time saver. To me, it isn't. If having the ability to refactor is important, write the code. Or buy a third party application. But don't disparage the language over it.

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