Develop Reference

does visual studio express 2015 support TFS 2010?

[Update]
I understand I can use 2015 side by side with VS 2010, but we've had problems just polluting our environment. If there is a chance someone has done this, it could save me a lot of time and energy instead of going with an install only to find out it doesn't work. It's also unfortunate this isn't documented anywhere.
So just like the title says.
To give some more background we're hoping to use VS2015 with our testers to kick start using selenium, but our task/bug management is all on TFS2010.
I don't want to distort the testers' environment, neither can I play with any of our dev machines to try this out physically. A VM will just not really run on our, not so fast machines.
My google-fu didn't get me to far. The VS2015 Express features does mention TFS, but I want to know specifically if it supports TFS 2010. Additionally I found a MSDN page. This talks about the various VS and TFS versions but nothing here about VS Express
Related SO posts I found:
Visual Studio 2015 & TFS 2010 Not specific about VS express or not, no definitive answer
Visual Studio 2015 with TFS 2010 More unrelated, this is about builds going wrong

You should be able to run VS2010 and VS2015 side-by-side, but not on the same solution/project files.
Once you open an older project in 2015, a project conversion will happen. If I recall correctly, project compatibiliy started to stabilizer around VS2012, but don't quote me on that, I'd say it is not likely.
You will NOT be able to open the same project in both at the same time afaik, so it's a one-time shift that'd meet your needs.
As far as task tracking systems go, you could also opt in on VSTS and do a one-time export of your existing bugs/tasks. Shouldn't take you more than a day or so to plan and migrate those over.

You can open the project with VS2015 but it will be upgraded to a newer state. We recently done this and could not go back using VS2010. Otherwise you can version control and keep both projects, i.e. the old implementation and the upgraded one. You could try with VS2015 Community Edition.

You sure can run both versions side by side, but not on the same project. Also, the Microsoft Test Manager that comes with Visal Studio 2015 will not connect to TFS 2010. It tells you that it needs an older version of MTM. I am still working out the kinks on our systems.

Simplest Visual Studio That Supports C# and F#

What is the simplest version of Visual Studio (professional, enterprise, or other) that I could purchase that supports C# or F# development?
It looks like F# is downloadable from Microsoft for no charge and comes in configurations
that would allow .Net and non-.Net development with or without Visual Studio. Am I missing something?
Is the same true for C#? That is is it downloadable without cost?
Thank you.

The simplest single version of Visual Studio which supports both developing in F# and C# is professional.
It's possible to install multiple free versions of the Visual Studio shell to allow you to develop C# and F# locally
C# via Express SKU
F# via Free Tools + Isolated Shell
This won't give you a single IDE though for developing in both languages.

C# is downloadable without cost as either part of the Windows SDK (which provides a commandline compiler csc) or Visual C# Express, which provides an IDE.
F# is available either in commandline form (fsc) or as a Visual Studio plugin, which requires the VS Shell (which is freely downloadable) or a full (non-Express) Visual Studio.
This means that you must purchase at least VS Professional to open both types of projects in the same editor, but you could also use a combination of VS Express and VS Shell for free.

Visual Studio Express Editions allows you to develop in NET languages. For example Microsoft Visual C# 2010 Express and it has no cost.
However it lacks many features. If you need a more powerful IDE, you can use SharpDevelop. It has no cost and allow you to develop in C#, F# and many more. Give it a try. Good luck!

How do you compile C#?

So, I was wondering how to compile C#. I have Windows 7 Enterprise. Is there a built-in program or do I have do download one?
If I have to download one, what do you recommend?
I have Googled this, and it told me about "csc.exe" but I can't find this.

For any real development, an IDE is preferable. Microsoft offers the Visual Studio Express edition for free, which has everything you need to get started with C#.
However, you can compile using just the command line compiler (csc.exe), which is included with the framework.
It should be located in the .NET installation dir; for instance on my machine for .NET 4, 64 bit version, I have a csc.exe in:
C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319

Your choices are:
csc.exe (the command line compiler), which is in c:\Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\v4.0.30319\
Install Visual Studio Express, the free edition of VS, for Windows/Console Applications, Web Applications, or Windows Phone Applications
Purchase a license for Visual Studio 2010 or get an MSDN subscription

Use the command line compiler csc
C:\>csc file.cs

You can use Visual Studio Community edition which is a full featured free IDE from Microsoft that will compile C#.

Since you're starting fresh, why not use an IDE that does it for you?
http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-csharp-express

You can find the command-line compiler, csc.exe, in \Windows\Microsoft.Net\Framework\vX.Y.
However, you will probably want to use Visual Studio, Microsoft's world-class IDE.
You can download the free version.

For literally compiling C#: Native Image Generator
Otherwise get Visual Studio.

Using Visual Studio will be the easiest way. There are free editions available - see http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/express for details.

You need Visual Studio to compile it once you have it installed. Once you have it installed you can go to Visual Studio Command Prompt and Use C# compiler csc.exe to compile it.
Look here for more information Command-Line Building

You need to have the framework installed (2.0, minimum). Then follow this old article for a simple how-to:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms379563(v=vs.80).aspx
NOTE: Microsoft IDEs like VS can do this for you also.

Not sure if you can do this by default with Windows 7 Enterprise. At very least you are likely going need visual studio.
You can get Visual C# here for free: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/en-us/products/2010-editions/visual-csharp-express

I would advice Visual Studio, the express edition is for free, you can find more information on the microsoft site over here.

I started using SharpDevelop as a portable text editor that understood ASPX files out-of-the-box (vs. Sublime, etc.), but I've build a couple of small (<10K lines) utilities using just that and CSC now. A portable copy of SharpDevelop is especially handy when you don't have the administrative permissions (or time) to install full Microsoft Visual Studio in an environment.
Download the "XCopyable" edition to get the portable edition of SharpDevelop from here:
http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/Download/Default.aspx#SharpDevelop5x

Also consider the option of using Mono & MonoDevelop available for Mac, Linux and Windows. Not a bad choice for a serious beginner.

Can I use Visual Studio with Unity?

I've been checking out Unity and it looks quite interesting.
In particular after reading you can use C# as the scripting language, I am left wondering if there is some sort of Visual Studio integration to leverage IntelliSense and all that jazz built into VS.

Unity has a wiki page explaining how to do this. It seems that the latest version of Unity should already allow you to create a Visual Studio project (if you're running Windows). However, it seems only VS 2008 is supported natively. You can follow this workaround to get it to work with VS2010 (except VS2010 Express Edition) to some degree.

Unity exports a VS 2008 project. I built a VS 2010 exporter so you can avoid fighting with the upgrade wizard. http://u3d.as/2gR

You can check UnityVS from SyntaxTree. With this extension you can code & debug Unity 3D games using VisualStudio
http://unityvs.com/
Disclaimer: both Sébastien and I are working on UnityVS

Microsoft have now acquired UnityVS company SyntaxTree, and are offering UnityVS for free for Visual Studio 2010-2013 Professional or higher.
You can download it here, or get it from the Visual Studio Extensions Gallery.

As of Unity 5.2, Visual Studio Tools are supported by Microsoft for Unity on Windows. Source
For OS X, Visual Studio Code can be used directly with Unity. Source

SharpDevelop or Express editions

Since there is a Sharpdevelop 3.0 ( http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/Download/ ) can anybody tell me how it compares to the Express Editions ? ( http://www.microsoft.com/Express/ )
I tried to find differences, but could only find this old post http://community.icsharpcode.net/blogs/mattward/pages/VisualStudioExpressComparison.aspx

I wrote a blog-post about it, you can find it here
In my conclusion I say:
Conlusion
If I have to choose for web applications than the express edition wins easily. The build in webserver, the graphical designer with split screen functionality and javascript debugging just make it too good.
If you think you really need to work with a database from within the IDE than also SharpDevelop is not for you. If you want to create a windows forms or console application both will work fine, if you want to build these applications more seriously and use a source control system, static code analysis and stylecop from the IDE you need SharpDevelop !
If the express editions would allow third party extensibility (Resharper) and solve my little annoyances, it would be number one.
If SharpDevelop would get a resharper add-in, a graphical designer for web pages and a build in web server, it would be number one.

SharpDevelop is a free/opensource project. Where as Microsoft Visual Studio Express Edition is a crippled Visual Studio lacking some of the tool/features that help in release commercial software.
If you are planing on using Visual Studio in the future, then use express edition. Otherwise I would highly recommend SharpDevelop.
In terms of features, they both have debuggers, they both have syntax highlighting and code completion. They both will have all the features you expect from a full out RAD IDE for .Net.

The other issue that is worth mentioning is the unit testing support in Sharpdevelop. Nunit can be integrated into the IDE and that is a huge gain IMO. Unit testing in #Develop is far superior to MSTest and Nunit with VS is not integrated into the IDE.