Does Visual Studio continuously compile?

Question

When working in VS, the error messages in the bottom panel are compiler errors and warnings, right? Does this mean the app is being compiled all the time? I would expect those to appear only when trying to run the app.

This is probably a silly question, but I cannot find the answer.

Answer 1

Visual Studio continually parses the source code; this allows it to preemptively report some errors before you actually compile the source.

This is, of course, dependent upon which language you are using. C++ didn't get preemptive error reporting until Visual Studio 2010.

Answer 2

Visual Studio doesn't natively continuously compile code.

However, I just downloaded the 14 day trial of this little app called .Net Demon that's a plugin for Visual Studio. It costs $30, but definitely a nifty tool if you've got large solutions with many projects.

http://www.red-gate.com/products/dotnet-development/dotnet-demon/

I'll probably end up breaking down and buying it, it's pretty slick.