Roslyn Gets Turned On (Oh, get your mind out of the gutter...)

C# Frequently Asked Questions - Throwing the Big Switch on Roslyn (Matt Gertz, VS Managed Languages Development Manager)

So, the entryway to my house has eight light switches along the wall.  Two of them control the porch lights, and another two work the same entryway light (despite the switches being only a couple of feet apart).  I haven’t the foggiest idea what the rest of the switches do.  I’ve been scared to try them out, actually.  (I worry that one day I’ll accidentally throw one of them and find out later that my couch is missing or something odd like that.)

However, I am pleased to announce that we’ve turned on quite a different switch here on the Managed Languages team, with very successful results!  As many of you know, we’ve been diligently working on a replacement for our VB & C# compilers (and certain IDE pieces that leverage them) which is code-named “Roslyn.”  Roslyn introduces a far more open model for compilation, which will allow developers to reach inside the compiler itself and see the world (or, at least, solutions and projects) as it does; this, in turn, will lead to far richer IDE and diagnostics being able to be developed at considerably reduced effort and cost.

And now, we’ve turned on The Big Switch in the Visual Studio organization and turned on Roslyn!

The Big Leap Forward ...

So… you’re done?

Not quite.  “Dogfooding” is a prelude to being done, but there’s still a bit of polish to put on before the new code is truly complete...

So, then, when can we see it?

As you may know, our last generally-available preview for Roslyn was September 2012.  No, that year is not a typo.  Yeah, we do feel a bit embarrassed about that.  Yes, we’ve been a little quiet.  No, there was nothing wrong going on here, things were actually going extremely well, it’s just that we’ve just been really heads’ down and focused on The Big Switch and…

Oh, to heck with the excuses, and let me just tell you what we’re doing. ...

Onward!

We wish you all the best for the New Year – 2014 is going to be an exciting year for us all vis-à-vis Roslyn...

Microsoft® “Roslyn” CTP  (September 2012)

Traditionally, compilers are black boxes – source code goes in one end and object files or assemblies come out the other end. The Roslyn project changes that model by opening up the Visual Basic and C# compilers as APIs.  These APIs allow tools and end-users to share in the wealth of information the compilers have about code. The Roslyn CTP previews the next generation of language object models for code generation, analysis, and refactoring, and the upcoming support for scripting and interactive use of VB and C#.

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This IS going to make the next version of .Net and VS something very interesting. Gee, I wonder if we're going to be hearing about this much at Build 2014? ;|