My project leader insists on using Visual Studio 2005 which only targets the .NET 2.0 framework and only supports C# 2.0 syntax.
He insists that the 2.0 framework has higher compatiblity and performance for older computers. By old, I mean 5-8 year old Windows XP machines.
Assuming we only support a minimum of Windows XP / Server 2003, is there any advantage at all to using .NET 2.0?
I am pretty sure that even targeting .NET 2.0 we can take advantage of C# 3.0 syntax in our code (lambdas, auto-implemented properties, etc.) if we upgrade past VS2005.
Best Answer
.Net 2.0 is considered to be more widely deployed, but 3.5 isn't far behind any more. However, that's no reason to limit yourself to Visual Studio 2005 or C# 2.0. Visual Studio 2010 can target .Net 2.0, and use C# 3.0 features when it does so to boot.