Top 5 .NET Development Tools For Developers in 2023

In recent years, .NET development is getting heavily adopted by enterprises to build their business solutions. And due to it, the demand to hire .NET developers has also increased. But only those who understand the requirements are getting engaged and know how to build a clean, stable, and secure codebase.

Further, to achieve such code writing objectives and to improve productivity, the best way is to use best-in-class development tools. Such tools help to optimize productivity, push security updates, and enhance the quality of applications. In 2023, industries will accelerate operations at the highest speed possible. And to align with them, .NET development tools are the primary need. So, let's get started to learn about the top 5 .NET development tools.

Essential Tools For .NET Developers

Further, you will understand the top five .NET development tools, help to improve code quality, and increase productivity.

#1: NuGet

NuGet is a popular and marvelous .NET development tool. Primarily, it's a package manager that helps to create, host, and share .NET packages for all the .NET developers. And Microsoft even provides complete documentation for its usage. With the help of NuGet, you can avail good codebase and associated contents of other developers in the form of packages.

In addition, NuGet provides two hosting methods, private and public. When you host packages using the general method, it allows anyone to access your packages. However, using the private mechanism, you can restrict access to a specific workgroup or an organization. Due to it, productivity increases as package distribution becomes easy among the development team. You only have to host the codebase and DLL files on a single platform; every team member will access it.

Further, top NuGet features include:

• Publishing of .NET Framework code packages along with their Dynamic Data Link files.
• Filtering mechanism to search for specific packages.
• Support to host .NET, .NET Core, .NET Standard, and .NET Framework packages.
• Allowance to upload Dependency, Template, and .NET tool packages.
• GUI (Graphical User Interface) for easy navigation.

#2: LINQPad

LINQPad is a new-age engine for instant testing and querying SQL databases. Whether a complete C#, F#, VB program, or just a tiny snippet, it can help you effectively test all and avail benefits of formatted output. Besides, LINQPad is only 20 MB large, making it relatively lightweight and effortless for your machine to run.

Moreover, it enables you to link the Entity Framework Core components created in Visual Studio and view SQL translation for them. You can also use it for generating any typed data contexts, as it's compatible with SQL Server, Oracle, SQLite, PostgreSQL, SQL Azure, and more.

Additionally, the primary features of LINQPad include the following:

• Conversion of objects into hyperlinks.
• Rendering of bitmaps and images in the original format.
• Dumping of Windows Form Objects and WPF.
• Integrated debugger to resolve errors and bugs.
• Direct script calling through CLI (Command Line Interface)
• Support for dynamic dot net development using auto-completion.

#3: Chocolatey

Chocolatey is also a management tool for handling software, but it's only compatible with the Windows operating system. Along with package handling, you can also use it for automating software operations in your digital environment. From creating, auditing, internalizing, and synchronizing a package to enabling self-service installation, Chocolatey can do all for you.

Furthermore, you can integrate it with any and 'n' number of software to automate their installation and upgrade operations. You can upgrade all the packages using Chocolatey from a single CLI command. It also helps reduce the package size by automatically cleaning the residual files and minimizing endpoint footprints.

Some of the prominent chocolatey features are:

• Automatic deployment of packages with real-time visibility functionality.
• Functionality to convert community packages into offline mode files.
• Automation using PowerShell and integration with any software.
• Scheduling software updates and viewing installation history.
• Elimination of package creation using manual techniques.

#4: ReSharper

ReSharper is an extension for Visual Studio, the most used .NET IDE by .NET developers. ReSharper helps developers in multiple aspects. Firstly, it aids in analyzing the code quality of C#, ASP.NET programming, CSS, HTML, XML, and VB.NET. Further, it provides with quick-fixes to remove errors from the program and efficiently compile it.

In addition, ReSharper also gets used to improve the code structure, leading to impeccably documented software for future needs. Also, through its built-in navigation mechanism, you can directly jump to any file, component, and code block.

Further, its top functionalities include the following, making it a reliable 2023 dot net development tool:

• Effortless integration and compatibility with Microsoft Visual Studio.
• Quick fix suggestions to improve code quality and eliminate errors.
• Built-in mechanisms for helping you to align with coding best practices and standards.
• In-built IntelliSense for easy code rearrangement, viewing documentation, and transforming code.
• Support in automating code generation for conditional programs and methods.

#5: NCrunch

Unit testing is an essential operation performed by .NET developers at their end. A software development company mostly prefers NCrunch as the primary unit testing tool. Due to its integration capabilities with Visual Studio IDE, it tops the list of developers.

NCrunch is for large projects, as it focuses on testing each code line and providing insight into it. When a .NET codebase gets tested, it displays the real-time status with checkmarks and even tells about the performance. In addition, if the code throws an exception, it tracks it and shows it on the screen.

The primary benefits and features of NCrunch consist of the following:

• Allows to run multiple tests concurrently and provide each line insights.
• Collects and analyzes each test information to provide detailed feedback.
• Allows to create of resource pools and distribute among different .NET developers.
• Enables configuring memory and processing power consumption as per your machine.
• It helps to save time by running multiple processes at the same time.

Should I Focus on Tools To Hire .NET Developers?

As a software development company, focusing on such tools would be beneficial. If you want to hire a .NET developer for a project, you can analyze its capability by interviewing about the tools. And even you can check proficiency in using .NET development tools through practical tasks.

As a result, you can hire the best human resource and effortlessly provide .NET development services. Also, as a .NET developer, knowing all such tools is necessary. It helps you grow as an expert .NET professional, complete work accurately, and build a secure, stable, high-performing application.

Concluding Up

Every .NET developer, project, and team has its requirements. But, the mentioned tools, such as NuGet, LINQPad, NCrunch, ReSharper, and Chocolatey, are the prominent tools in the top list of developers. All these tools help to improve code quality, easily manage packages, share codebases between team members, and reliably test the applications.

Additionally, whenever you select a tool, you must check its features, benefits, and compliance with your needs. Otherwise, it can downgrade the development rather than improve it. Therefore, I prefer the top tools but use them only if they suites the project requisites.