Chapter 5: Inside the .NET Integrated Development Environment

Bringing Visual Studio .NET to Life

In the previous two chapters, I emphasized that learning to program on the .NET platform will require you to learn much more than just a new programming language or a new development tool. In those chapters, I covered several prerequisite topics. Now you have a foundation that you are ready to build upon. You will find that this chapter is rather different from the previous chapters.

Beginning with this chapter and continuing in each subsequent chapter, I not only discuss .NET, I also illustrate how to use .NET tools and .NET technologies. That's right. It's time to roll up your sleeves. I start by showing you the many features contained in Visual Studio .NET (VS .NET), your new integrated development environment (IDE). I explain the project template feature and the various project types. From there, you'll move on to choose among the .NET languages. Last, but certainly not least, you'll develop your first .NET programs.

Incidentally, I now assume that you have acquired an edition of VS .NET and installed it (review the section ".NET Is Multiple Editions of VS .NET" in Chapter 2 for information about the available VS .NET editions). When you perform the installation using the VS .NET installation disks, pay particular attention to the choices available for Language Selection and Documentation Location Selection. The Language Selection options control which Microsoft-provided language compilers and project types are installed. The Documentation Location Selection options offer you a choice of location for the documentation that accompanies the installation disks: either your CD/DVD drive or your hard disk. The examples and screen shots in this book are based on the Enterprise Architect edition of VS .NET, version 1.0.