Datasheet

“Web Form projects,” and so on. However, solutions can contain multiple projects, so that you can group
together related code in one place, even if it will eventually compile to multiple assemblies in various
places on your hard disk.
This is very useful, because it allows you to work on shared code (which might be placed in the GAC) at
the same time as applications that use this code. Debugging code is a lot easier when only one develop-
ment environment is used, because you can step through instructions in multiple code modules.
Summary
In this chapter, you looked at the .NET Framework in general terms and discovered how it makes it easy
for you to create powerful and versatile applications. You saw what is necessary to turn code in languages
such as C# into working applications and what benefits you gain from using managed code running in
the .NET Common Language Runtime.
You also saw what C# actually is and how it relates to the .NET Framework, and you were introduced to
the tool that you’ll use for C# development — Visual Studio .NET.
In this chapter, you learned:
❑ What the .NET Framework is, why it was created, and what makes it such an attractive environ-
ment to program in
❑ What C# is and what makes it an idea tool to program in the .NET Framework
❑ What you need to develop .NET applications effectively, namely a development environment
such as Visual Studio 2005
In the next chapter, you get some C# code running using VS, which will give you enough knowledge to
sit back and concentrate on the C# language itself, rather than worrying too much about how VS works.
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Introducing C#
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