In this chapter, you looked at the .NET Framework in general terms and discovered how it makes it easy for you to create powerful and versatile applications. You saw what is necessary to turn code in languages such as C# into working applications and what benefits you gain from using managed code running in the .NET Common Language Runtime.
You also saw what C# actually is and how it relates to the .NET Framework, and you were introduced to the tool that you'll use for C# development — Visual Studio .NET.
In this chapter, you learned:
What the .NET Framework is, why it was created, and what makes it such an attractive environment to program in
What C# is and what makes it an idea tool to program in the .NET Framework
What you need to develop .NET applications effectively, namely a development environment such as Visual Studio 2005
In the next chapter, you get some C# code running using VS, which will give you enough knowledge to sit back and concentrate on the C# language itself, rather than worrying too much about how VS works.