Visual Studio For Students: The Best Development Tool In College 

Have you thought of what should be the best development tool for college students in 2024? What did you think of Visual Studio? Did it even make your list of development tools? Find out our thoughts and whether you will agree less or more!

Table of contents

What is a Visual Studio?

Visual Studio is an integrated development environment from Microsoft that uses some Microsoft software development platforms such as Windows API, Windows Forms, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Store and Microsoft Silverlight.

It can produce both native and managed codes while supporting 36 different programming languages thereby allowing the code editor and debugger to support (to varying degrees) nearly any programming language, provided a language-specific service exists.

What is Visual Studio used for?

Visual Studio is used to develop computer programs, websites, web applications, web services and mobile applications. It is a creative launching pad that can be used to edit, debug, build code, and publish an app.

It is available for Windows and Mac. Visual Studio for Mac has many of the same features and is optimized for developing cross-platform and mobile apps. There are three editions of Visual Studio namely; Community, Professional, and Enterprise. 

Key Features of Visual Studio

  • Creation of an application in any Net Language: The Visual Studio IDE is characterised by its ability to create an application in any Net language without some form of hindrance. Hence, developers can use C#, Vb.Net or even F# to develop an application.
  • Debugging applications on the fly: There is a command that allows you to test applications as they are immediately built. the IDE allows one to run the program at any point of time during the development process. hence, a developer can check for errors during the development phase.
  • Creation of any Application Type: The Visual Studio IDE is used to create any application whatsoever. Whether it be a Web-based application or windows Forms-based application.
  • Extensions: The IDE has the facility to install third-party extensions. An example can be Subversion, which is used for source code repository management. Subversion is used to upload code to a central repository. This is done so that a copy of the code will always exist. Visual Studio can integrate with such software from the IDE itself. Hence, a developer can work with code repositories from the IDE itself.

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Is Visual Studio Free for Students in 2024?

Visual Studio Enterprise is available for free to students for learning and training purposes only.

The most basic edition of Visual Studio, the Community edition, is free of charge. The Visual Studio Community edition slogan is “Free, fully-featured IDE for students, open-source and individual developers”. The Community Edition was announced on November 12, 2014, as a new free version, with similar functionality to Visual Studio Professional. (mexican online mail order pharmacy)

Before this date, the only free editions of Visual Studio were the feature-limited Express variants. Unlike the Express variants, Visual Studio Community supports multiple languages and provides support for extensions. Individual developers have no restrictions on their use of the Community edition.

Who Can Use the Software?

Rights to use Visual Studio Community depend on the customer segment and usage scenarios as explained below;

#1. Individual Developers  

Any individual developer can use Visual Studio Community to create their own free or paid apps. In addition, a number of users may use the software to develop and test device drivers for the Windows operating system.

#2. Organizations

An unlimited number of users within an organization can use Visual Studio Community for a classroom learning environment, academic research, or for contributing to open-source projects.

Organizations can also use the visual studio software to develop and test device drivers for the Windows operating system. However, in non-enterprise organizations of up to 5 users, they can also use the Visual Studio Community.

This possible if they have about 250 Personal Computers or generate less than $1Million as their annual revenue. No use can be permitted for employees and contractors beyond the open-source, academic research, and classroom learning environment described above.

How much does it cost to get a Visual Studio for Personal Use?

There are multiple ways to acquire Visual Studio based on personal needs. The most common is to purchase a Visual Studio subscription. This provides a comprehensive set of tools and resources to create, deploy, and manage your next great application. 

However, you can also purchase Visual Studio Professional without an MSDN or Visual Studio subscription.

Here are the options you can choose from and settle for which suits you best.

Buy a Visual Studio Subscription

Cloud subscriptions are sold via the Visual Studio Marketplace; you can get either a monthly subscription to Visual Studio Enterprise or Professional.

This is the most flexible way to access Visual Studio Professional and any new versions that are released while you stay subscribed. You also get access to Azure DevOps and Team Foundation Server, thousands of software downloads, services to help support your development, training resources such as Pluralsight.

To bill your purchases, you need an Azure subscription. You can sign up before or during your first purchase in the Visual Studio Marketplace. 

B. Buy a Standalone Visual Studio Professional License.

Visual Studio standard subscriptions that are due to expire can be renewed cost-effectively. Renewal pricing is considerably lower than purchasing a new Visual Studio subscription because the customer only pays for the ongoing right to receive new versions of the software, access to new product keys plus other expiring subscriber benefits, but not for a new license of the Visual Studio development tool, which the customer already has.

Retail Visual Studio subscriptions must be renewed annually. The renewal grace period—the period from when the Visual Studio subscription expires to the point where the customer loses the option to renew at the renewal price—is 30 days.

Visual Studio subscriptions purchased under most Volume Licensing programs are valid until the Volume License Agreement or Enrollment terminates. However, the Select Plus Agreement (which does not expire) is an exception.

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Visual Studio Licensing

The primary way to license users is by purchasing the appropriate level Visual Studio subscription for each user participating in software development projects.

Licensed for Design, Development, Testing, and Demonstrating Your Programs; all visual studio subscriptions and visual studio professionals are licensed on a per-user basis.

Each licensed user may install and use the software on any number of devices to design, develop, test, and demonstrate their programs.

Visual Studio subscriptions also allow the licensed user to evaluate the software and to simulate customer environments in order to diagnose issues related to your programs. Each additional person who uses the software in this way must also have a license. 

The software, services, and support included with Visual Studio subscriptions vary by level, so you should consult the Visual Studio subscription comparison to determine the right level for the needs of each team member.

The Visual Studio and other Microsoft software that the individual subscriber can install and run is defined by what is available for that Visual Studio subscription level. 

The software that is included is defined as any software that is available to the subscriber via the Subscriber Portal while the user’s subscription is active, plus downgrade rights to prior versions of any of that software (for legacy software versions that are not available in the Subscriber Portal).

Visual Studio subscriptions include both current software and many prior versions dating back over a decade. They often carry multiple different editions (Standard, Enterprise, Datacenter, etc.) of the same product to support various software development and testing scenarios.

Plus, Visual Studio subscribers regularly gain access to new versions of the software as it is released. Anyone can visit the Subscriber Portal, search for a particular download, and then click on the details to see what date the download was published and what subscription levels have access to download it. 

Visual Studio subscriptions must be renewed for all Volume Licensing Programs by purchasing the Software Assurance (SA) version of the product by the deadline specified under the Volume Licensing agreement. These deadlines vary by program, and may also vary depending on the terms in place when the agreement was signed.

The licensed user can install and use the software on any number of devices. The software can be installed and used on your devices at work, at home, at school, and even on devices at a customer’s office or on dedicated hardware hosted by a 3rd party. Most subscriber software can also be run in Microsoft Azure VMs. However, the software is otherwise not licensed for use in production environments.

How to Download and Install Visual Studio

The Visual Studio installation steps and download Visual Studio;

Steps

  • Download Visual Studio using this free download link
    You can select; Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition or the Visual studio 2019 Professional Edition (30-day free trial)
  • Open the .exe file
  • Start the installation, click continue to start up with the installation
  • Once the installation setup is complete, it downloads the initial files. However, your internet connection determines the speed at which you download files.
  • Choose the software version and on the next screen, click on install
  • Select the desktop version. in the next screen, select ‘.Net desktop development’ and click on install
  • Wait for the files to be downloaded. Visual Studio will download the relevant files based on the selection in the previous step above.
  • Reboot your PC to complete the Visual Studio setup.
  • Open Visual Studio, post-reboot, open the Visual Studio IDE
  • Start using Visual Studio

Beyond code editing, you will be working in the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE) to develop any type of app or learn a language even.

This is because Visual Studio IDE brings together graphical designers, compilers, code completion tools source control, extensions, and many other features in one place.

What is the Difference Between Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code?

Visual Studio Code  

Is an editor while Visual Studio is an IDE. Visual Studio Code is cross-platform and fast, while Visual Studio is not. Visual Studio for Mac has a more limited UI (for example, no customizable toolbar). (https://tomadamswc.com/) So for cross-platform work, Visual Studio Code may still be preferable.

Visual Studio Code is a lightweight source code editor that can view, edit, run, and debug source code for applications. It is simply Visual Studio without the Visual UI, mainly a superman’s text editor mainly oriented around files, not projects. It does not have any scaffolding support. 

It’s a competitor of Sublime Text or Atom on Electron. Visual Studio Code is based on the Electron framework, used to build cross-platform desktop applications using web technologies. It does not support Microsoft’s version control system; Team Foundation Server. It has limited IntelliSense for Microsoft file types and similar features. Developers mainly use it on a Mac that deals with client-side technologies (HTML, JavaScript, and CSS).

Visual Studio

As the name indicates, it is an IDE containing all the features required for project development, like code auto-completion, debugger, database integration, server setup, configurations, etc.

It is a complete solution mostly used by and for .NET-related developers. It includes everything from source control, bug tracker, deployment tools, etc. It has everything required to develop.

It is widely used on .NET-related projects (though you can use it for other things). The community version is free, but if you want to make the most of it then it is not free.

Visual Studio is aimed to be the world’s best IDE (integrated development environment), which provide full-stack development toolsets, including a powerful code completion component called IntelliSense, a debugger that can debug both source code and machine code, everything about ASP.NET development, and something about SQL development.

In the latest version of Visual Studio, you can develop cross-platform applications without leaving the IDE. And Visual Studio takes more than 8 GB of disk space (according to the components you select). To sum it up, Visual Studio is an ultimate development environment and quite heavy.

Conclusion

Visual Studio empowers you to complete the entire development cycle in one place. For example, you can edit, debug, test, version control, and deploy to the cloud. With the diversity of features and languages in Visual Studio, you can grow from writing your first piece of code to developing in multiple project types.

References

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Ajah Excel is a team growth and performance expert with over nine years of experience in blogging and personal development. He leads a team of 36 crazy, restless innovators with an enviable work culture at Silicon Africa Technologies Limited – a fast-rising tech firm from the SouthEast. Excel is the founder of Kiiky.com and WriterGig. He is also the co-organizer of TEDx Ikenegbu and convener of Social Media Fest. He is a vibrant learner who yearns to share his knowledge to educate and inspire young Africans. He has a B.Tech in Information Management Technology with certifications in growth hacking, effective communication, leadership, team, and personal development, to mention a few. Ajah Anayochukwu Excel is a passionate public speaker, creative writer, and brand storyteller.

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