4.3 IntelliSenseUnderlying the IDE is Microsoft's IntelliSense technology, which puts help and editing assistance (including code completion) instantly at your disposal. IntelliSense makes programmers' lives much easier. It provides real-time, context-sensitive help that appears right under your cursor. For example, in the Hello World code shown in Chapter 2, you called the WriteLine( ) method for the Console object. If you write this code in VS.NET, the pop-up help will show you every available method of the Console object as soon as you type the dot (.), as shown in Figure 4-4. And if you begin to type a method ”say you enter the letters "Wr" ”IntelliSense jumps to the first method that matches what you've typed so far. Figure 4-4. Pop-up code completionOnce you enter the method you want to call, Microsoft's pop-up help shows you the various versions of the method and helps you determine the parameters you'll need, as illustrated in Figure 4-5. Figure 4-5. Pop-up helpCode completion automatically completes your thoughts for you, drastically reducing your typing. Drop-down lists provide all methods and properties possible in the current context, making them available at a keystroke or mouse click. |