Perhaps a good way to start off my new VSTS blog would be to introduce this exciting new software package to everyone. Some of you may already know of it, but I am sure many others don't.

Disclaimer 1: First, I will preface everything by saying that this software is still in Beta testing. If I do a really good job convincing you of how amazing this software will be, you cannot then drive to the local Best Buy and purchase it. It is not yet for sale. Microsoft expects the software to go on sale mid 2005. I would guess May 2005, but that is still 9 months away from today!

Disclaimer 2: I don't work for Microsoft. (Yet, anyway.) So I do not have access to any secret future plans for VS or VSTS. So if I say “May 2005”, I am really just making a guess. I will try to keep guessing at a minimum, however.

OK, so on to the questions burning on everybody's lips...

Q. What is Visual Studio 2005?

A. Obviously, it is the next version of Visual Studio. The last version was “Visual Studio .NET 2003”. As you can see, Microsoft has dropped “.NET” from its name.

Q. What's new in Visual Studio 2005?

A. VS2005 formerly had the code name Whidbey. Most of what is new falls into four broad categories:

• Integrated software development tools for the full-life cycle (known as Team System)
• New language features for VB.NET and C#.NET
• IDE improvements including support for code snippets and refactoring
• A line of “express“ products for novice users

Q. What is Visual Studio 2005 Team System?

A. Modern software development is a complex process, requiring coordination between many different people. Most of the time, this coordination happens in a chaotic manner: email, project meetings, status reports, and/or “bumping” into people in the office hallway... Do you wonder why 90% of all software projects are behind schedule or fail completely?

VSTS comes with a set of tools designed to improve the entire software development process: from the project management aspects of a project, to the architecture and design, to development, and to testing. Some team members already use versions of the software: the project manager may use MS Project, the architect may use Visio, and the tester may use NUnit. But Microsoft has combined all of those tools under one IDE, and designed them to seemlessly work well together.

(Geez, I sound like an advertisement. If you act now, I will throw in a set of Ginsu knives!)

Q. What tools are in Visual Studio 2005 Team System?

A. The list is long, and at this point I do not have the definitive list. But I'll try to point out some cool features:

• Project workflow: project managers can assign tasks to individual developers within the Visual Studio environment. As developers complete these tasks, the project progress is updated instantly for the project manager.
• Software architecture: has application design tools built in, similar to UML, which allow developers to design an application thoroughly before writing any code. When the time comes to begin development, the tool will automatically generate the code you need to get started.
• Source code control: a vast improvement over Visual SourceSafe
• Unit testing tools: a tool similar to JUnit or NUnit built-in
• Code analysis: a tool that analyzes your code, and reports bad coding practices to you (FxCop)
• Code coverage: a tool that analyzes your unit tests and your code, and identifies areas that are not being tested

Whew! There is more. But my fingers are getting tired.

Q. Any good links?

A. Why, yes! Thanks for asking.

• Visual Studio 2005 Home
• Visual Studio 2005 Team System Home
• Visual Studio 2005 Product Line Overview
• Tools Affected - A long long list of tools that will ship with VSTS and Team System

Til next time!