What do you like best about Code Compare?
I've spent the last weeks to search and evaluate at least ten code comparison tools. This wasn't easy because I have a lot of requirements what I'm expecting from such a tool.
I've used the same diff tool for the last 10 years now and it wasn't bad. But it's deprecated and will not be developed further, so I started searching for something better which is more future-proof.
My main requirements are:
- Code-centric file comparisons mainly for C# - not only the characters or words, but by analyzing the syntax and semantics of the programming language
- Crystal clear visualization of changes without the need to think about it, especially when a block of code was moved and partly changed as well
- Ability to customize keyboard shortcuts for moving changes from one side to another, navigating from change to change, reloading of the current files and for closing the program
- Ability to customize colors, fonts and font sizes
- Easy Git integration
- Windows Explorer integration (compare an arbitrary file or folder with another one somewhere else)
- Good performance
- Folder comparison
- Show differences in encodings and line endings
- Show a quick message box if two files are equal (This definitely wasn't the case in every tool I've tried.)
- Nice to have: Dark mode
- Moderate price
- No need for other types of comparisons like images or parts of the registry
After I've seen quite a lot of code comparison tools, I can honestly say that Code Compare is definitely the right tool for me.
I absolutely love that Code Compare gives me nearly full control over the comparison process. It's the only tool that lets me choose the comparison quality and has other fine granular options for comparing.
Other than Code Compare, most other tools didn't correctly detect or visualize if some code was moved and changed at the same time. This is really essential for me before committing some code.
Code Compare fully satisfies my requirements above. No other product on the market has accomplished this in such an extent.
There are other good diff tools out there but they are mostly not code-centric. Code Compare focuses primarily on code and therefore manages to get far ahead of the other diff tools regarding this topic.
I'm really glad that my long search is finally over.
One item that could be improved a bit more is the support for dark mode.
At the moment you can inverse the colors of the text editor but even with the dark skin there are still parts of the UI which are not dark, like the line number column.
Another minor detail would be support for the newest C# features like local functions when analyzing the code semantics. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.
