Dynamic Languages in Visual Studio

[steve_a]

What is the state of dynamic language support in Visual Studio?

I'm aware of the Visual Studio Tools for IronPython project, but (a) that's still in technical preview mode and (b) it's an extension package. Can you talk about some of the plans for integrating dynamic languages into Visual Studio? What makes supporting dynamic languages and the DLR in the IDE so challenging?

[dglienna]

There is the F# interpreter built into VS2010

[cilu]

There is the F# interpreter built into VS2010

F# is a mixture of functional and imperative object-oriented programming languages.

Examples of dynamic languages are Python and Ruby and there is an ongoing development of IronPython and IronRuby to target the .NET framework (through DLR, a set of services built on top of the CLR). I think this was what the question was all about.

[Kevin McFarlane]

For those desperate to have basic IDE support for IronPython and IronRuby until Microsoft supplies it you might consider SharpDevelop which does support them, albeit not with full IntelliSense.

Here's IronPython in action.