Develop Freely

Development under Windows can be almost free if you wanna jump in.

Develop Freely
Microsoft

We all know about Microsoft(MS) Windows Operating System. All of us have worked on it. We create our documents and save them, we play music and videos on it, we browse the internet, share files on network etc. But while working on it nobody thinks how it came to your Desktop, how it has been developed etc.

But today in this post I will discuss about the Development under Windows! To develop for Microsoft Windows, you will need to have the Microsoft Windows OS which you can buy from Microsoft’s Official Site http://www.microsoft.com/, then you will need to have a surplus knowledge of some programming languages which can used to produce Windows Application, and of course a target task which is meant to be completed by that application. The major Programming languages which can be used to develop for Windows are:- C++

  • JAVA
  • Visual Basic(VB)
  • C# etc.

Among above C++ and JAVA are Open Source languages and can be used to develop apps for Windows but these require lot of time and coding, even if you know all the basic parts, methods and ways. C# and VB are the languages from Microsoft to develop apps for Windows. These are not open source languages and requires license if developing commercially.

You have also heard about .NET framework developed by MS.

.Net framework is the framework which provides a collection of system libraries to the application developed under .net framework for windows. Microsoft Corporation has launched many versions of .net framework which are

A more complete listing of the releases of the .NET Framework may be found on the List of .NET Framework. The application development under .net supports following programming languages:

  1. Visual J#
  2. Visual F#
  3. Visual C++
  4. Visual Basic
  5. ASP.NET
  6. Visual C#

Now to develop under the Windows, the above languages are the best available options because with the .Net framework you have to use only your programming instinct i.e on your software task, you need not to know about the whole logic fro software. So you need to know about one of the above programming language. I’ll suggest to learn C#.Net because C# is the only language which is exclusively developed for .Net framework.

You can develop in C# CUI (Command User Interface) apps by only having the .Net framework, you can also build the GUI (Graphical User Interface) apps but that will be very clumsy. So to build GUI apps with C# or any of the above languages you need an IDE (Integrated Development Environment).

The IDE available for this is Visual Studio. The latest available Visual Studio till this post date is Visual Studio 2010 with the new Visual F# language and .Net framework 4.

The Visual Studio 2010 is a software product of Microsoft Corporation. You can buy it from here. You can also get an express edition of Visual Studio 2010, which is available free of cost, from here. If you want to build enterprise level paid softwares, then you have to buy the license of the Visual Studio 2010. But if you want to develop small level application for yourself, your friends or your family then you can go through the Express edition of the Visual Studio 2010 which is having only some of the enterprise features less than the Professional edition.

Now yon also go Open Source with Microsoft Visual Studio. Open Source means the source is also available to the public along with the app free of cost. So you can develop any app under windows by the express edition of Visual Studio 2010 and make its source available to the public.

Now if you don’t know any of the above language, then no need to worry! Microsoft also provide the tutorials and videos to learn the above listed programming languages and how to program with these languages under .Net framework 4.

  • Visual C#:
  1. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vcsharp/default.aspx
  2. http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/cs2010samples
  • Visual Basic:
  1. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/default.aspx
  2. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vbteam/
  • Visual C++:
  1. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualc/default.aspx
  2. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/default.aspx
  3. http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/vcsamples
  4. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/vcblog/
  • Visual F#:
  1. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/fsharp/default.aspx
  2. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd233154.aspx
  3. http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/fsharpsamples
  • ASP.NET:
  1. http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/asp.net/default.aspx
  2. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/aa336522.aspx
  3. http://www.w3schools.com/aspnet/default.asp
  4. http://www.asp.net/

Now you can also get the Profession Edition licence of Visual Studio from Microsoft, if you are one of the following:

  • Business Starter:

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  • Student:

DreamSpark is simple; it’s all about giving students Microsoft professional-level developer and designer tools at no charge so you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology – or just get a head start on your career. DreamSpark gives you the chance to develop world class software, web applications, cool and creative designs as well as amazing games.

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