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36 Microsoft Visual Studio 2010: A Beginner’s Guide
Key Skills & Concepts
● Learn Basics of Starting a Project
● Use the VS Editor
● Code Expressions and Statements
T
he .NET platform supports several different programming languages. Since all of the
languages run on the same platform and share the same class libraries, language choice
becomes a personal choice of preference. In other words, you can accomplish the same
tasks, regardless of what programming language you use. With .NET, you have a choice of
language but retain the same benefits of having all of the features of .NET available to you.
Visual Studio (VS) 2010 ships with four programming languages: C#, C++, F#, and
Visual Basic.NET (VB). The pronunciation of each of these languages, respectively, is See
Sharp, See Plus Plus, Eff Sharp, and Vee Bee. C# and VB are the two most popular .NET
programming languages and have the greatest support in VS. Therefore, this book uses both
C# and VB in all examples. While you may choose one of these languages as your favorite,
there is great benefit in knowing both. Most of what is written online, in magazines, and
in books contains examples for either C# or VB, and sometimes, but not always, both. You
might not want to miss great content because of a limited language choice.
Chapter 1 danced around projects and what is available. It was important to have that
overview, but I’m sure you’re eager to see some code. This chapter will be satisfying in
that you’ll learn how to create a project, see what code is generated, and learn how to add
code yourself. This is the first chapter of three that covers language syntax, combining
each language feature with tips on how VS helps you code. You’ll start off by creating a
simple project and then learn about language types and statements.
Starting a Bare-Bones Project
Chapter 1 described the project types that you can create. This chapter takes you a step
further; actually creating a project. Because the primary focus of this chapter is on
learning C# and VB, the project type will be a Console application. A Console application
is very simple, allowing you to read and write text from and to the Command Prompt
window. Later chapters introduce you to the project types used most, such as WPF
and ASP.NET.