Getting Started

The start of any journey is often the hardest part, especially if the goal is unclear or seems daunting. So too with learning a new computer technology. One way to alleviate this difficulty is to present, right up front, a clear idea of what is needed to start the journey and examples that demonstrate the possibilities that lie at the end of the road.

The previous chapter introduced the .NET Framework and overall architecture. In later chapters, you will learn how to create Windows applications using .NET and the Windows Forms technology.

This chapter will cover what software you need on your computer to develop applications using the .NET Framework. Then it will show you what a Windows Forms application looks like. It will do this using the traditional route of a simple program to say "Hello World." In this case, there will actually be three successive Hello World programs, each showing progressively more capability. Each of the three programs will be developed twiceonce in Notepad and again in Visual Studio .NET to show the advantages of a good development environment.