Just a couple of days ago, Joseph Albahari made many developers happier and more productive with the release of LINQPad 5.
Specifically targeting .NET Frameworth 4.6 LINQPad 5 brings a bunch of new features to the table including:
- Full C# 6 / VB14 support, including string interpolation, expression-bodied functions, exception filters, nameof, static imports and the new 'Elvis' operator.
- Background code-checking - both parsing and binding errors show with red squigglies. Resolved symbols display in turquoise, and unresolved symbols in red. Compilation is quicker, because most of the work is done in advance.
- (Pro/Premium Editions) Automatic code formatting, 'Rename Symbol', 'Jump to Definition', and 'Find References'.
- (Pro/Premium Editions) Autocompletion for VB, including member listings, parameter info, quick info, background compilation, smart-tags, and auto-formatting.
- Built-in F# compiler, so fsc.exe is not required. Parsing errors are shown as you type. Autocompletion is on the way!
- Built-in Roslyn Syntax Tree Visualizer. The syntax tree for your query appears automatically as an output tab, and you can invoke it programmatically with .DumpSyntaxTree() or .DumpSyntaxNode().
- Authenticated feed support within the NuGet package manager.
If you haven't tried LINQPad before, I highly recommend it as your new code scratchpad. I would be surprised if it doesn't save you time almost straight away in your development role.
But you may be wondering what all of this costs? Well the great thing is the standard edition of LINQPad is free. Yep, you get an immensely powerful code playground for nothing more than the time it takes to download and unzip a file.
If you're a hardcore developer or just like to have all of the bells a whistles turned on, grab one of the three paid editions that best suits your needs. With the Premium edition you'll get a full integrated debugger with many of the features you come to expect from the Visual Studio IDE (and at a fraction of the price).
For existing LINQPad users, LINQPad 5 is a paid upgrade and existing LINQPad 4 owners can get a 40% discount if you act quick. It's a no-brainer.
Download LINQPad now, and why not follow @linqpad and spread the word.