What software you need
Software option #1: Full editions of
Visual Studio 2008
To develop C# applications, you can use any of the
full editions of Visual Studio 2008, including the Standard
Edition, Professional Edition, or Team System. All of
these come with everything you need to develop C# 2008
applications, including the Visual Studio development
environment, version 3.5 of the Microsoft .NET Framework,
C# 2008 (and Visual Basic 2008), and a scaled-back version
of SQL Server called SQL Server 2005 Express.
Software option #2: Free editions of
Visual Studio components
You can download the following Express Editions of Visual Studio
software from Microsoft's web site for free:
- Visual C# 2008 Express Edition
- SQL Server 2005 Express Edition
Together, these two products
provide all of the components you need to develop Windows
applications in C# 2008.
You may note a few variations, though, when you're
using our book, which is based on the Professional Edition.
That's because Visual C# 2008 Express is a scaled-back
version of what you get in the full editions. So some
of its user interfaces are simpler than what you'll
see in the book. And a few of the features that are
covered in the book aren't available.
To make sure that these variations don't interfere
with your learning, this book carefully notes any differences
between the Express and full editions. The good news
is that all the skills that you learn and all the applications
that you develop with the C# 2008 Express Edition will
still work if you upgrade to one of the full editions
of VS 2008 later on.
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