What You Need to Use This Book

The most important requirement for this book is a solid familiarity with C# 1.x and experience building .NET applications. I do not hold your hand through the fundamentals; instead, I focus on what is new in the 2005 edition.

You'll want a computer with a version of Visual Studio 2005 installed that supports C# 2.0, along with one or another form of SQL Server (SQL Server Express is fine).

You can also do the labs in this book using the new Visual Studio Express Editions. You'll need both Visual C# 2005 Express Edition (for Chapters Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 5) and Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition (for Chapter 4).