Getting Started with .NET Development
A couple of times this week I got the opportunity to share with some individuals suggestions for getting started learning .NET development. Sometimes I take it for granted that these resources are commonly known, but there are definitely those who assume that there are still no free editions of Visual Studio. I wanted to point you to some FREE resources to help you get started learning .NET.
First of all, Visual Studio. Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition comes in a few flavors. The reason is that you can only support one language at a time in the Express Edition. So you must download the Visual Basic edition or C# edition, for example. With the Professional Edition you get support for all the languages in a single IDE (plus additional features), but the Express Editions are definitely a great way to test the waters and you can definitely write production ready code. See http://www.microsoft.com/express/ for more information and to download the Express Editions for free.
Also available on the Express page is a link to download SQL Server 2008 Express for free.
If you want to learn SharePoint (everyone should), then there are some free resources for you as well. If you have Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008, see http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=49c79a8a-4612-4e7d-a0b4-3bb429b46595&displaylang=en to download SharePoint Foundation. You will have to install it in standalone mode following the instructions listed at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee554869(office.14).aspx.
Finally, there is also a free download for the latest version of SharePoint Designer -- SharePoint Designer 2010. You can do a great deal of SharePoint development and administration using this product. See http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/product/Related-Technologies/Pages/SharePoint-Designer.aspx for more information.
I should mention that there is help available in each of the products. Visual Studio contains tutorials to help you get up to speed quickly. In addition, MSDN has virtual labs available for many Microsoft products at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/aa570323.aspx.
If you are an aspiring developer or a hobbyist programmer, don't use Java just because Eclipse or NetBeans are available for free. Microsoft has responded with these Express products to help you evaluate and learn the best development environment on the market.
