I used to be an asp.net developer before. I appreciated the idea behind asp.net during its early years - making websites fast and with templating (or scaffolding). Later realized that it is bloat.

Then asp.net mvc happened, a whole new paradigm shift. But then I disliked the idea of stuff getting inherited from somewhere. *.cshtml files and all. Soon I realized what the ide is actually doing behind the scenes. For e.g. the cshtml files are compiled and there is an intermediate binary format I guess. (Don't remember well).

This is why I came to like something like express. Guaranteed there is no type safety. (JavaScript is a dynamic language). But I enjoyed the simplicity of it. Ever since I have moved away from the .net platform.

I know this code generation and intermediate binary forms are necessary. But at times I was surprised by it. You find the similar stuff for other stuff you write for e.g winforms, windows presentation apps, etc. I realize there is no other alternative way for such platforms. But I generally disliked the idea that my editor does a lot of stuff behind the scenes. This makes me too dependent on the editor. For e.g. try making winforms app with just notepad. It's not impossible; just very cumbersome.

I have respect for .net. In fact I do write console programs time to time. But I wish stuff was as simple as having a plain editor and getting started.