Can You Name Top C# IDEs Provided by Microsoft? I Couldn't

C# coder looking for a job?

Can you name the top IDEs for C# development provided by Microsoft?

The editor of Visual Studio Magazine couldn't.

I learned my inadequacy while browsing the morning tech news when piqued by "Top 20 C# Interview Questions and Answers" on the site of Simplilearn, an online bootcamp and certification training provider.

I'm just a writer and a hapless, inept coding hobbyist, so I didn't expect to be able to answer any questions ... until I saw question No. 7: "Mention the important IDEs for C# development provided by Microsoft."

That, I thought, I can handle. I couldn't.

In fact, I had never even heard of some of the answers:

• MonoDevelop
• Visual Studio Code (VS Code)
• Browxy
• Visual Studio Express (VSE)
• Visual Web Developer (VWD)

I was kind of surprised by the omission of Visual Studio -- that was my go-to first guess. But I suppose VSE fits that bill as it was kind of morphed into Visual Studio Community edition, according to Wikipedia: "In 2013, Microsoft began supplanting Visual Studio Express with the more feature-rich community edition of Visual Studio, which is also available free or charge. The last version of the Express edition is 2017."

Browxy sent me to a web search, though. I'd never heard of it and I can confirm it has never been mentioned in the digitized pages of Visual Studio Magazine, which has been publishing for decades, albeit mostly in a print version.

Browxy is an online IDE and compiler, used to create, run and release programs from desktop, tablet or phone in Java, C, C#, C++, Python, PHP and more. Apparently Wikipedia has never heard of it either, so I don't feel too bad. But no Wikipedia entry makes it harder to make the "provided by Microsoft" connection, of which I could find none. So I'm not beating myself up too much about that one.

I am familiar with MonoDevelop and have vaguely heard of VWD.

VWD is the free version of Visual Studio for developing ASP.NET applications, according to 2020 Microsoft documentation. Wikipedia has it, mentioning Visual Web Developer 2008 Express SP1. Come on now! Way back in 2008 we still had a functioning country. It was even before the Will Smith slap. How can I be expected to know about stuff practically in the paleozoic era?

And then there's VS Code, which is kinda popular. I nailed that one!

My poor performance led me to seek redemption and self respect elsewhere, so I went to GangBoard, described as "a live, interactive platform of software training furnishing personalities with momentary way in to prosperous sundry courses." Ok, sure.

It does have a C# Interview Questions and Answers page, though, with question No. 47: "Name the IDEs that are provided by Microsoft for the development of C#." The answers are:

• VCE (Visual Studio Express)
• VS (Visual Studio)
• Visual Web Developer

Hmm, looks like someone is copying from someone else. I moved on.

To Sprintzeal, providing certification training course and online exam prep, with the page Most Commonly Asked C# Interview Questions and Answers 2022, whose question No. 3 asks: "What are some of the IDE's provided by Microsoft for C# development?" (I guess people get asked that question a lot.) I figured that since it was marked "UPDATE 2022" (though the article says "Last updated on Aug 11 2021"), it would be up to date.

It doesn't list an exact answer, preferring a more conversational tone in answering the question, which helpfully informs us that: "IDE or integrated development environment is a piece of software that helps us to write codes." I would have thought that would be obvious to someone searching for C# interview questions, but I'm just a writer.

Anyway, in naming a few, the answer lists:

• Visual Studio
• Xcode
• Android Studio
• Pycharm
• Eclipse
• Sublime
• Adam

I'm just a writer, but I'm pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty sure Xcode and some of those others aren't provided by Microsoft.

Getting more confused by the minute, I searched more for "IDEs provided by Microsoft" and basically just found exact copies of the GangBoard answer.

So if you're a C# coder looking for a job and you come across that question, I hope we've helped you out. Good luck!

(And don't blame me if you don't get it right -- I'm just a writer.)

Posted by David Ramel on 04/05/2022