What You Need To Use This Book

Starting with the Beta release of Visual Studio Whidbey (2005), Microsoft has made it much easier for you to get access to their works-in-progress. There are several options available to you: just as Visual Studio comes in many flavors, the prerelease versions of .NET 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005 come in many forms:

Download the SDK

The Beta SDK, which includes command-line compilers, documentation, and other tools, is available as a free download from http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/downloads/updates/default.aspx. This is a small download, but you'll need to bring your own code editor (anything from Notepad to SharpDevelop will do).

Express Editions

Microsoft has released stripped-down versions of Visual Studio that are small downloads, so you can get up and running quickly. You can download the Express Editions from http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/. Use Visual C# Express for most of the examples in this book. You'll need Visual Web Developer Express for some of the examples, and you'll need to install SQL Server Express or MSDE (Microsoft Data Engine) for some of the ADO.NET examples.

Beta and Community Tech Preview

Microsoft has also made full versions of Visual Studio 2005 available for download. These come in two forms: Community Technology Preview (CTP), which are somewhat rough around the edges, and full-fledged beta releases. At the time of this writing, CTPs is available to MSDN subscribers for Visual Studio Professional, Standard, and Team System. Beta 1 of Visual Studio Professional is also available to MSDN subscribers and to nonsubscribers for the cost of shipping. For more information, see http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/get/default.aspx.

Mono

The Mono Project is an open source development platform based on .NET. It's sponsored by Novell, and runs on Linux, Mac OS X, and other operating system. Although the current version is targeted at .NET 1.1, you can choose to install it with support for some .NET 2.0 features. For more information, see http://www.mono-project.com/about/index.html.

Programming C#, Fourth Edition, will work with any of these environments. However, because each one is at a slightly different version level, some screenshots may differ from what you see. In short, your mileage may vary.