Technology Report: Plug-Ins For Visual Studio

Aug. 18, 2003

Microsoft Visual Studio is one of the most successful IDEs around. It only runs on Microsoft Windows. The primary target for the latest version, Visual Studio.Net 2003, involves the many...

William G. Wong

Microsoft Visual Studio is one of the most successful IDEs around. It only runs on Microsoft Windows. The primary target for the latest version, Visual Studio.Net 2003, involves the many incarnations of Windows from the latest Windows Server 2003 to the compact Windows CE.Net (see photo).

Visual Studio’s family tree goes back to a time where it was a standalone package. However, now it’s a platform for a host of add-ons. Microsoft provides a few of the add-ons, but most come from third parties. There’s even a plug-in that allows for Linux cross-development; it’s called VisualLynux from LynuxWorks.

Microsoft provides configuration tools and a number of compilers, including Visual C++, Visual C#, Visual J#, and, of course, Visual Basic.

Visual Studio supports Microsoft’s Web services, including the .Net Framework. It can be used for ASP (Active Server Page) development that’s employed with Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS).

Visual Studio .Net comes in many configurations, including Enterprise Architect, Enterprise Developer, and Professional. The Enterprise versions include more extensive database and XML support.

Third-party add-ons can be divided into three types. The first are language-related tools like Cobol and Eiffel. The second are run-time services, such as graphics packages and database services. The final type are development-related tools, including source-management systems and plug-ins that integrate Visual Studio with third-party products.

About the Author

William G. Wong | Senior Content Director - Electronic Design and Microwaves & RF

I am Editor of Electronic Design focusing on embedded, software, and systems. As Senior Content Director, I also manage Microwaves & RF and I work with a great team of editors to provide engineers, programmers, developers and technical managers with interesting and useful articles and videos on a regular basis. Check out our free newsletters to see the latest content.

You can send press releases for new products for possible coverage on the website. I am also interested in receiving contributed articles for publishing on our website. Use our template and send to me along with a signed release form.

Check out my blog, AltEmbedded on Electronic Design, as well as his latest articles on this site that are listed below.

You can visit my social media via these links:

I earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Masters in Computer Science from Rutgers University. I still do a bit of programming using everything from C and C++ to Rust and Ada/SPARK. I do a bit of PHP programming for Drupal websites. I have posted a few Drupal modules.

I still get a hand on software and electronic hardware. Some of this can be found on our Kit Close-Up video series. You can also see me on many of our TechXchange Talk videos. I am interested in a range of projects from robotics to artificial intelligence.