Customer has requested sufficient documentation that after we leave the project, they could bring on another developer and they could get up to speed efficiently.
So, here’s my table of contents that I’m filling out (sure to change as it progresses). I’m currently working on the “Build From Scratch”, which, to avoid any future awkwardness, means “Create a blank windows 7 virtual machine, Install visual studio and Compile.”
Just to see if it was possible, I tried installing the free Visual Studio Express 2013 for Desktop instead of the paid version.
It works.
One of my resentments against Microsoft – from back when I was a Unixite and a Micro$oft Hat3r – was that the average joe can’t afford the tools. (Whereas, Perl and Python and gnu C++ were free). This is no longer true.
You can download and run VS2013 Express for Web, or Desktop. Limitation: no code analysis stuff; possibly harder to integrate 3rd party tools. Includes: NuGet package manager, Intellisense, Multiple projects per solution, etc.
You can download and run SQLExpress. Its pretty much the full blown SQL except it limits itself to 1 core and 1G of memory.
I think that pretty much covers most of the software development I’ve done in the last 14 years, and gotten paid for.
Good Job, Microsoft. I think I can be proud of you now.