.NET Framework SDK

<< Flavors of .NET | Visual Studio.NET Editions >>

8. Windows Services: They refer to applications that run as services in the

background. They can be configured to start automatically when the system
boots up.

As you can clearly see, .NET is not just for creating web application but for
almost all kinds of applications that you find under Windows.

.NET Framework SDK

You can develop such varied types of applications. That's fine. But how? As with
most of the programming languages, .NET has a complete Software Development
Kit (SDK) - more commonly referred to as .NET Framework SDK - that
provides classes, interfaces and language compilers necessary to program for
.NET. Additionally it contains excellent documentation and Quick Start tutorials
that help you learn .NET technologies with ease. Good news is that - .NET
Framework SDK is available FREE of cost. You can download it from the MSDN
web site. This means that if you have machine with .NET Framework installed
and a text editor such as Notepad then you can start developing for .NET right
now!

You can download entire .NET Framework SDK (approx 131 Mb) from MSDN
web site at

http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp?url=/downloads/sample.asp?url
=/msdn-files/027/000/976/msdncompositedoc.xml

Development Tools

If you are developing applications that require speedy delivery to your customers
and features like integration with some version control software then simple
Notepad may not serve your purpose. In such cases you require some Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) that allows for Rapid Action Development
(RAD). The new Visual Studio.NET is such an IDE. VS.NET is a powerful and
flexible IDE that makes developing .NET applications a breeze. Some of the
features of VS.NET that make you more productive are:

- Drag and Drop design
- IntelliSense

features

- Syntax highlighting and auto-syntax checking
- Excellent debugging tools
- Integration with version control software such as Visual Source Safe (VSS)
- Easy project management

Note that when you install Visual Studio.NET, .NET Framework is automatically
installed on the machine.