Starting from scratch with .Net Framework -- Where to begin?

[Alex]

Hey Guys,

I'm about to take a job where I'll be doing .net programming, however
my forte to date has been more along the lines of web programming with
ColdFusion, PHP, etc. The last time I did application programming was
back in the MS-DOS days with C++, Pascal, and Basic. The company will
be giving me training, but being I probably won't start for a few
weeks, I want to start getting familiar with the platform and
hopefully learn as much as possible until I actually get on the job.

First off, hardware. My Windows box at home is P4-2.8 Ghz (not dual
core) with 256 Megs/Ram. I'm bumping this up to 1.5-2Gigs of RAM, and
hopefully this will be suffice for Visual Studio 2005. Speaking of
hardware, I'm going to school at nights working on my BS, and the
college bookstore has VS2005 Pro for $99... can't beat that Oh,
and my PC runs Windows XP Pro.

So, after I have the hardware and software, can anyone give me some
pointers on books or web resources? I know I'll need to focus on
Visual Basic, C#, and ASP.Net, and I'd like books or resources showing
from basic 'hello world' apps to database integration with MS SQL
2005. I'm investigating 180-day eval copies of Windows Server 2003
and MS SQL 2005 to test with MS SQL as well.

Thanks for any pointers. I believe my programming skills are strong,
so it's mainly learning the .Net framework and how to create the
processes I've used for years in that environment. Any help or
suggestions along those lines would greatly be unappreciative.

Thanks again --

Alex

 

[Scott M.]

Here are a couple of tips:

Make sure IIS is installed and running when you in stall VS 2005. With XP
Pro., IIS is an optional Windows Component to add, but it is typically not
installed by default. You'll need your WinXP CD to install it if it is not
already installed.

Second, you definitely want to bump up your ram 256MB will make things very
slow going. The rule on RAM is more = better!

As for learning how to work with .NET, understand that there is the
Framework and then there is the language that you wish to interact with the
Framework in. Also, whicever language you use isn't really that important,
since they all perform more or less equally and have similar performance.
But, all the languages are Object Oriented. So, here's my suggestions:

Start out by learning OO concepts (if you don't already have a grasp of
this). You won't get too far without an understanding of OO.
Next, dive into the Framework and learn what it is comprised of and what
those pieces do (the Common Language Runtime [CLR], the Garbage Collector
[GC], the various compilers, the Base Classs Libary, etc.).
Finally, pick the language you want to work with and begin to learn the
sytax and behavior of that language.

It's tough to find one book that covers all this material well, more likely,
you'll need several resources. For a good begininng to all of this, I'd
recommend:

"Programming Visual Basic" by Microsoft Press
ASP.net
msdn.microsoft.com

Good luck!

-Scott M.

 

[Jim Rand]

The .NET Step by Step series is outstanding. In your case, get the ADO.NET
step by step first and then the ASP.NET step by step.

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Hi Alex,

The most important resource is the Microsoft MSDN Library:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx It has the complete
reference, plus introductory articles, How-tos, Starter Kits, Sample Code,
etc. The MSDN web site itself
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx) is also invaluable, and has
developer sections for various topics, as well as tons of free downloads,
including Starter Kits, add-ons, etc. Get your hands on a copy of Visual
Studio ASAP so that you can start playing with it. You will love it.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP

Printing Components, Email Components,
FTP Client Classes, Enhanced Data Controls, much more.
DSI PrintManager, Miradyne Component Libraries:
http://www.miradyne.net

 

[Alex]

Hi Alex,

The most important resource is the Microsoft MSDN Library:http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspxIt has the complete
reference, plus introductory articles, How-tos, Starter Kits, Sample Code,
etc. The MSDN web site itself
(http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx) is also invaluable, and has
developer sections for various topics, as well as tons of free downloads,
including Starter Kits, add-ons, etc. Get your hands on a copy of Visual
Studio ASAP so that you can start playing with it. You will love it.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP

Printing Components, Email Components,
FTP Client Classes, Enhanced Data Controls, much more.
DSI PrintManager, Miradyne Component Libraries:http://www.miradyne.net












- Show quoted text -

Hey Guys---

Thanks for all the wonderful information. I'm reading up on the
concepts of OOP and the .Net Framework, and it's totally
interesting... One question though, are there any open source
applications written in .Net? I'd enjoy finding a fully working
application and peaking under the hood to see how they make it happen,
so just curious.

Thanks again --

Alex

 

[Alex]

Hey Guys---

Thanks for all the wonderful information. I'm reading up on the
concepts of OOP and the .Net Framework, and it's totally
interesting... One question though, are there any open source
applications written in .Net? I'd enjoy finding a fully working
application and peaking under the hood to see how they make it happen,
so just curious.

Thanks again --

Alex- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hmm.. once I learn to program with .Net I'd like to start writing
stuff under the FOSS umbrella, but after checking Sourceforge and
other OSS repositories, I'm finding a huge lack of OSS written
with .Net of any kind. Out of the many thousands of applications
posted on Sourceforge, only 44 use Visual Basic and 290 use C#. Then
i ran cross this article by Shaun Walker about Windows and FOSS:
http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Blogs/tabid/825/EntryID/207/Default.aspx

Interesting read... I'm a huge advocate of FOSS, and though one of my
primary reasons to learn .Net is for my job... I hope a byproduct
will be my ability to code some neat stuff for other users to use, and
release it as OSS.

I know this is abit off topic, but with .Net being as big as it is,
why aren't there more open source projects using .Net?

Thanks ..

Alex

 

[Kevin Spencer]

Hi Alex,

I have no idea, other than the ideas espoused in the article you linked to.
Open Source is a pretty good idea, but one has to make a living. Personally,
I think one has to be balanced with regards to what one shares. I find that
a great deal of Open Source code is pretty hacky. Anyone that is an
extremist is probably not making a good living as a developer. And anyone
making a good living as a developer is probably not writing all Open Source
code!

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP

Printing Components, Email Components,
FTP Client Classes, Enhanced Data Controls, much more.
DSI PrintManager, Miradyne Component Libraries:
http://www.miradyne.net

 

[Alex]

Hi Alex,

I have no idea, other than the ideas espoused in the article you linked to.
Open Source is a pretty good idea, but one has to make a living. Personally,
I think one has to be balanced with regards to what one shares. I find that
a great deal of Open Source code is pretty hacky. Anyone that is an
extremist is probably not making a good living as a developer. And anyone
making a good living as a developer is probably not writing all Open Source
code!

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP

Hi Kevin,

My philosophies have always sided with the Open Source community, but
having a family I also know I have to be able to put supper on the
table. Though making money from OSS is possible, it's the type of
endeavour which takes lots of money and time before breaking even.
Personally once I learn .Net for my professional job, I'd like to use
those skills for personal projects and create software for anyone to
use, whether it's OSS or Shareware. Nothing ground breaking, just
some tools I personally could use and maybe others could as well.

On that note, with .Net seemingly the most popular programming
language for Windows and with Windows having 95% (give or take) of the
desktop market, I was just surprised that there's not more OSS written
with .Net.

Take care ...

Alex