What software you need
Software option #1: Full editions of Visual
Studio 2005
To develop Visual Basic applications, you can use any
of the full editions of Visual Studio 2005, including
the Standard Edition, Professional Edition, or Team
System. All of these come with everything you need to
develop VB 2005 applications, including the Visual Studio
development environment, version 2.0 of the Microsoft
.NET Framework, Visual Basic 2005 (and C# 2005), 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 two Express editions of Visual
Studio software from Microsoft's web site for free:
- Visual Basic 2005 Express
- SQL Server 2005 Express
Together, these products provide all of the components that you need to develop Windows Forms applications in Visual Basic 2005.
You may note a few minor variations, though, from what's shown in our
book, which is based on the Professional Edition. That's
because Visual Basic 2005 Express is a scaled-back version
of the VB you'll get in the full editions. But all the
skills that you learn and all the applications that
you develop with the Express edition will still work
if you upgrade to one of the full editions later on.
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