LOCATING VISUAL C 2005 EXPRESS RESOURCES ONLINE

LOCATING VISUAL C++ 2005 EXPRESS RESOURCES ONLINE

As .NET becomes more popular, the number of tutorials and help resources available will continue to grow. When you're ready to tap into the power of the Internet and World Wide Web, you will find numerous resources waiting. These include online communities that you can join and Web sites that you can browse. The sections in this appendix are just a sample of what's available online.

Making Use of Usenet Newsgroups

Usenet is one of the oldest and most widely used discussion boards on the Internet. You can access it through one of the many popular newsreaders, such as Agent. Or you can use Google's Groups Web site to view and search the groups you want.

If you're not familiar with Usenet, it is a loose collection of servers that host discussions on almost every conceivable topic you can imagine. It is completely free to use and open to the public. All you need to know is the newsgroup you're interested in, and you can point your newsreader or Google's Groups Web site to the boards containing the discussions.

You can find some of the most useful .NET-related material in groups that are heavily supported by Microsoft. The articles you will find in the Microsoft groups often contain answers to frequently asked questions and discussions about how to use .NET features.

Here is a listing of some of the most active .NET-related groups:

• microsoft.public.dotnet.general. One of the most .NET-related discussion groups on Usenet, this group is a catchall for all the .NET languages and technologies.

• microsoft.public.dotnet.vc. This group is devoted to Visual C++, including Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition and older versions.

• microsoft.public.dotnet.interop. This group is devoted to the techniques and philosophy behind getting the various .NET languages to work together.

• microsoft.public.dotnet.windowsforms. This group is the best place to frequent if you have questions or are interested in discussions about WinForms.

• microsoft.public.dotnet.windowsforms.controls A subgroup of the WinForms group, this discussion board hosts questions and talks on the technology behind the controls that you use in your forms.

• microsoft.public.dotnet.windowsforms. This group contains a great deal of information on using Windows Forms.

Usenet is organized in a hierarchical fashion. Each label preceding a period is a group, and the label following it is a subgroup. As you can see with the final bullet, microsoft is a main group, followed by the subgroup public, and then dotnet, and so on.

Unfortunately, most Usenet providers keep these topics on their servers for only a limited time. The length varies with each Internet Service Provider, but it's usually no longer than a few months. Because of this, if you don't frequent the boards, you might miss out on some good information.

Fortunately, Google archives a vast number of posts for many (although not all) of the groups that are available. If you point your browser to http://www.google.com and select the Google Groups option, you will have a powerful research tool at your fingertips. By placing a topic in the Search field, you can access valuable information that you might have to search for extensively elsewhere. Or you can select the option on this page entitled Browse All of Usenet, which allows you to click directly to access the groups you are interested in.

Google Groups also contains an Advanced Search option that allows you to narrow your search to specific boards. In the Search field, you can select the topic of interest and type group: followed by a newsgroup's name. For example, if you were interested in information forms in general, you might type the word forms into the Search field followed by group:microsoft.public.dotnet. Because Usenet is organized in a hierarchical, tree-like fashion, you can also perform searches of subgroups, using an asterisk as a wildcard in place of a subgroup's name. For example, if you wanted to search all groups beneath the microsoft.public.dotnet level, you would type the word or words you were looking for followed by microsoft.public.dotnet*, which incidentally might include a great many hits.

Some Useful Web Sites

There is a vast number of .NET-related Web sites on the World Wide Web. As more programmers are adopting the .NET technologies and employing the Visual Studio languages, more Web sites are becoming available. Because it is really impossible to catalog them all, I'll just briefly clue you in on some of the ones I know of.

General Information

Here are some Web sites devoted to hosting general .NET information:

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/. You might already be aware of Microsoft's general Visual Studio Express site, but if not, this one is useful to bookmark. This site contains information on the various Visual Studio Express options, including an overview of .NET and the specifics of each of the language technologies available to you.

• http://www.gotdotnet.com. This Microsoft-supported site contains a large developer community and many articles on the .NET Framework. There are a huge number of blogs, articles, and resources available, and the site is growing rapidly.

• http://www.codeproject.com. This general programming Web site hosts a large number of easy-to-search-for articles covering everything from general programming tips to specific solutions to common problems. You can find the .NET-specific material at http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/dotnet.asp.

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/. When you're ready to explore Visual C++ in more depth, this Web site is a handy resource. The official home page of Visual C++, it contains a wealth of technical and industry-related articles that will help you improve your programming skills and get the most out of your development tools.

Game and Hobby Specific

Here are some game- and hobby-specific .NET programming Web sites that you might find useful:

• http://msdn.microsoft.com/coding4fun/. Microsoft built this Web site for enthusiasts and first-time programmers. It contains a wide variety of hints and help for creating demos, small games, and school projects.

• http://www.gamedev.net. This is a well-run Web site containing a numerous articles and information relating to game development. One of its best features is its discussion boards, which are backed by an active member community of thousands and a helpful, friendly moderating staff. The site features a specific .NET forum in which anyone can participate.