1.1. MICROSOFT VISUAL WEB DEVELOPER

Although you could theoretically write ASP.NET web applications with Notepad or another text editor alone, you really want to install a copy of Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010. VWD is developed specifically for building ASP.NET web sites, and as such, hosts an enormous amount of tools that will help you in rapidly creating complex ASP.NET web applications.

Visual Web Developer comes in two flavors: as a standalone and free version called Microsoft Visual Web Developer 2010 Express, and as part of the larger development suite called Visual Studio 2010, which is also available in different editions, each with its own price tag. Although the Express edition of VWD is free, it contains all the features and tools you need to create complex and feature-rich web applications. All the examples you find in the book can be built with the free Express edition so there's no need to shell out big bucks for the commercial versions of Visual Studio 2010 to follow along with this book.