Vs Express 2013 Today

Despite being free, VS Express 2013 packed a surprising punch. Here are the features that made it legendary:

You had to upgrade if any of these applied:

| Capability | VS 2013 Ultimate | VS Express 2013 | |------------|------------------|------------------| | Static code analysis (FxCop, C++ Core Checks) | Full | None (except basic syntax) | | Performance profiler (CPU, memory) | Yes (sampling/instrumentation) | No | | Concurrency Visualizer | Yes | No | | Code coverage from unit tests | Yes (with MS Test or third-party) | No | | JavaScript memory heap profiler | Yes (for Windows Store apps) | Windows Store Express only | vs express 2013

Real-world example: If your C# app had a memory leak, Express gave you no way to take snapshots of the managed heap, compare object retention, or identify the root GC handle. You would need external tools like PerfView (CLI-based) or RedGate’s ANTS Memory Profiler (paid).

From Microsoft’s perspective in 2013, Express served three strategic goals: Despite being free, VS Express 2013 packed a

Interestingly, Express 2013 was the last major release of the Express brand. In 2015, Microsoft replaced it with Visual Studio Community — a free, full-featured version that includes extensions, plugins, and almost all Professional features for small teams, open-source contributors, and students. The Community edition effectively admitted that Express’s limitations had become too severe for modern development.

In 2013, Microsoft deliberately crippled Express to prevent you from using third-party tools. You cannot install ReSharper, OzCode, GitHub for Visual Studio, or even simple color theme editors. You are stuck with the default light blue. Interestingly, Express 2013 was the last major release

This comparison feels unfair, but it is the reality of modern "free" tools.

Visual Studio 2013 includes the Microsoft Fakes framework (shims and stubs for isolating code under test) and built-in Test Explorer supporting MSTest, NUnit, xUnit, and C++ unit tests.

Express 2013 has no integrated Test Explorer. While you could manually compile test projects using a third-party runner (e.g., NUnit console), there is no red/green test UI, no continuous test runner, and no code coverage highlighting. This made Test-Driven Development (TDD) impractical.