What is the point of command line C# compilation?

Question

I always use Visual Studio to do this, and yet even MSDN repeatedly refers to command line approaches in compilation and deployment scenarios.

This guy wants to do only command line, and is lauded for being hardcore, but I fail to see the point of doing it this way. What am I missing?

Not using visual studio is a definite plus sometimes ;) Also some people would like to use a different editor such as ViM or Emacs just because they're used to it. — Jesus Ramos, Feb 19 '12 at 05:19
Command-line tools often help make automation easier. Automation often helps make your job easier. — Carl Norum, Feb 19 '12 at 05:20

score 6 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 19 '12 at 05:33

Continuous build and automation, as others have said, are very good reasons to use command line tools. If you want a reliable deployment process, you must have an automated way to build and deploy. If your deployment process consists of starting Visual Studio, loading the project, compiling, then manually copying the output to the deployment directory, then you will be plagued with deployment issues. You will end up with partial builds, old versions, forgetting some critical step, etc.

I find the IDE essential for development and debugging. But I've found that the only way to reliably build, test, and deploy is to automate the process.

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 19 '12 at 05:21

4

Automatic build tools like continuous integration servers typically use command line C# compilers. Spend some time in the Linux world and you'll learn the value of the command line.

answered Feb 19 '12 at 05:21

Chris Shain

50,833
6
93
125

They wouldn't typically use the compiler directly, rather the build tool msbuild. – BrokenGlass Feb 19 '12 at 05:23
Sure, but the point is the same. We use make, or ant, not gcc or javac, but the end result is equivalent. – Chris Shain Feb 19 '12 at 05:24

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 19 '12 at 05:21

One big use is that you can run it automatically as part of a larger one-click build process. It's kind of difficult (or at least, needlessly complicated) to have an automated script that says "Open Visual Studio, open solution, press F6" or whatever your build key is.

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Feb 19 '12 at 05:22

0

For one thing, if you load a project into a continuous integration server, you will need to use the command line approach for automated builds. I'm guessing this is the most common use of it, but I'm sure there are others.

answered Feb 19 '12 at 05:22

Jeremy Wiggins

7,239
6
41
56

What is the point of command line C# compilation?

4 Answers4