OK, this is where I am a bit confused. I see ads all the time for .Net developers and such. I know MS revamped Visual Studio into Visual Studio .Net. One of my buddies who is a programmer has been telling me "dude learn .Net"
WTF, exactly, is meant by that? Is it VB.Net? Is it a combination of C#, VB, XML, etc?
So if someone says that they are a .Net developer, what exactly is it that they do?
You're confused because you think .NET is a language. It's not.
.NET is a classes library. It contains a lot of objects usable with ANY langauage.
You can use the NET library with VB, with C++ or C#, or Java........
You can consider .NET as a layer between your coding and the Windows API.
So, you use the .NET libraries as a tool to build an application written in VB, C++ or C# etc ....
To write your code, you can use Visual Studio, but it's just a useful tool to help you write ( editor), organize ( objects explorator, etc..), compile , link and test your application..
So...
1) you're not obliged to use .NET to develop something ( you can still use the MFC , for instance)...
2) but if you use it, the .NET framework ( end user executable) must be installed on the target machines.. ( kinda like DLL's )
the NET SDK is available in Visual Studio 2008
3) you don't have to "learn" .NET..... you just have to look in the list of objects in it, and use them with the good syntax..... all is well documented in the help of Visual studio
To resume:
1)You LEARN a language (any)
2) you use developpement tools like Visual Studio(integrated developpement environment) and/or .NET SDK ( objects library) to build your application in the language you've choosen
I think your friend meant "USE" .NET...."learning" would be a HUGE work, as there are a lot of classes in it !!
But I'm with him on this one: use it ..... I'd add "use C#", too....
If you want to try, you can downolad for free the Express edition from Microsoft.
It's the same Visual studio environment with one limitation: you can't sell nor redistribuite the software you write...
Give it a try !!
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/default.aspx
Ciao !
Marco
I just paid for the license to keep Visual Studio 2008 Pro right before we lost our funding... Wonderful timing... :(