What's New in Visual Studio .NET
The first time you
open
Visual Studio .NET, you
will notice that there have been many changes from previous
versions. Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework will change the
way you view and create software. Some of the differences between
Visual Studio .NET and its predecessors like Visual C++ 6.0
include
-
Redesigned
user
interface
: The Visual Studio .NET user interface is a
combination of the best features found in the previous versions of
Visual C++, Visual Basic, and Visual InterDev.
-
Advanced Help
system
: Help is literally at your fingertips. With the new
Dynamic Help system, links to help documentation are
context aware
; that is, they are displayed
based on what you are currently working on. Also, Microsoft
Developers Network (MSDN) is now incorporated into the integrated
development environment (IDE) without having to use an external
help application.
-
Vastly improved
debugger
: By incorporating multiple languages into Visual
Studio .NET, they support cross-language debugging. You now have
the ability to easily step from Visual Basic .NET to Visual C#
code.
-
Deployment
support
: Visual Studio .NET now contains the necessary
toolset to deploy your finished application to its final
destination. Using Microsoft Installer technology, you can create
merge modules or entire installations within the Visual Studio .NET
IDE.
-
Automatic code
documentation
: By using a combination of Extensible Markup
Language (XML) tags, you can create well-formatted documentation
for your code without relying on third-party utilities.
-
.NET
: .NET is
a technology that can't really be summed up in one succinct phrase.
Needless to say, .NET is more than just a framework. Included
within the .NET umbrella are such things as Windows Forms, web
services and, of course, the new Microsoft programming language,
C#.
The changes that come with Visual Studio .NET
are
enormous
. Trying to understand all of these changes can seem
overwhelming. However, upon completion of this book, you will know
how, and be able to use all the features of the .NET Framework. If
you need to create several objects that must communicate with each
other across process or even the Internet, you will apply what you
learn in Chapter 39, "Remoting." If you need to create an object
that can persist itself after the program has
terminated
, you will
use the knowledge from Chapter 7, "File and Stream I/O and Object
Persistence." In all, you will benefit from the beginning from
informed design decisions.
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