Suggestions for learning .NET and C#

[Yohhan]

I'm a unclear on how development studios for programming in the window's environment work. I never used VB studio, but now I'd like to learn .NET. It's true that you can only use C# within the Visual Studio .NET environment, correct? So I can't go out and download a compiler like I do for C/C++/Java?

If I want to look into learning this stuff, what should I do? I don't have the $1,000 to drop on the full product, as listed on microsoft's website. Is there some sort of downloadable training version? Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[mAdMaLuDaWg]

Yes, C# can only be used within Windows (although there is an independent effort to port .NET to linux called Mono http://www.gomono.com). There are a couple of IDEs out there that support C# such as Dreamweaver and SlickEdit
As for free tools to compile C# proggies, there is a proggie called WebMatrix that compiles ASP.NET apps. Borland has a free tool here: http://www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_csharpbuilder.html
Then there is always the command line debugger for .NET when you install the framework.
Check out http://www.gotdotnet.com , http://www.asp.net, http://msdn.microsoft.com for documentation/tutorials/samples (Thats what I love about MS, PLENTY of documentation)
I also remember there being a hack to compile .net with VisualStudio 6.0 (do a google)
BTW, MS is giving out VB.NET for free: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/atthemovies/

 

[WannaFly]

You can use many different language in a windows environment, not just C# - VB.net J#, etc

Go for the VBAtTheMovies thing, you'll have to wait 6-8 weeks or whatever but you will have a great development tool.

 

[Mucman]

You don't have to use any special tools to write C# or .Net software. I've written some small ASP.NET applications simply with a text editor. If you're on an MS platform you can download the .NET SDK which comes with csc.exe which is a C# compiler.