.NET framework source to be released

Well if you havent heard the good news already, then go read about it here at ScuttGu's Blog : Releasing the Source Code for the .NET Framework Libraries . As the name of the article implies, Microsoft is planning to release a standalone install that contains the .NET Framework source libraries. It will also include integrated debugging support within VS2008.

WOW!!!!

If you develop using .NET there must have been a time when you needed to delve into the framework code. Thank goodness for the Reflector tool written by Lutz Roeder. It has been the only way to see what the framework is actually doing, by decompiling the framework code:

Or, if you're like me and you want to view the code within VS, then you can download Denis Bauer's Reflector add-in Reflector.FileDisassembler . This allows you to dump a whole framework DLL or single class to a file so you can play :

 

OK, back to the topic - .NET FRAMEWORK SOURCE CODE! Go check out ScottGu's post which shows him stepping through the code within VS2008.

Another amazing feature he talks about is the ability to step into the source even if you haven't downloaded the source. Just step into a framework method and VS2008 will automatically download the appropriate source file from Microsoft. All built in! Pretty awesome.