Hello all, this is my first post here.

I am looking to get into .net this year. I would like some feedback and/or advice from those who have recently done this, or, indeed, are currently in the process of doing so. I do have a few years' web development experience under my belt, having used classic ASP for the back end. I am a capable HTML, CSS and JavaScript coder.

Having done a little bit of research, I have decided I would quite like to use C# to develop .net applications.

Am I right in thinking that the .net framework is freely available by download from Microsoft? Microsoft's site does not seem to list prices or make clear what is free and what is not ... annoying!

I am keen to avoid spending huge sums of money at this stage. Though I intend to choose a few good books, I would rather not buy software.

With the above in mind, can anyone recommend a development environment?

What general tips/advice would you offer for someone starting out?

Your time will be greatly appreciated.

the .net framework is free.

Take a look at the Visual Studio Express Editions for developer tools. These are free versions of the various language IDEs that comprise Visual Studio and are more than capable of getting you started.

Thank you, Chris.

Any thoughts on particularly useful books, or online resources? Of the latter, I know a few, but of course, it is always useful to know what others recommend.

Ther are lots of online tutorials you can take.. there is no necessisity to shell out heaps of money to learn.
You will need to get microsoft visual studio 2003/2005 anything.. first and then perhaps you ll like to have mysql 2000 or 2005 anyting ...
with these you can start off learning with the online tutorials

Actually you can even try out the video tutorils tat are availabel on internt these days..
must be aware of them.. anyway, you can try lynda.com ... i ahd found a fewvideo tutorials there... search ther maybe they have .net too..
any doubt you can pm me..

download the free C# and web developer express editions. If you code projects just yourself, they are ideal. You only really need Visual Studio for team projects or very large projects.

I've developed several sites using just web developer. Also, theres some good learning videos on www.asp.net.

Ya! i highly recommand www.asp.net

to learn ASP.Net I would recommend you to have ASP.NET 2.0 Unleashed by Stephen Walther. It's a very good book for beginners.

hi ,
I think i am not too late.
I am also learning asp.net.

visual studio express, .net framework you can download from microsoft site.

asp.net is best place to start with

you need to learn c# and stress more on oops concept.

get some videos form asp.net site and leanvisualstudio.com they charge but register for free and they will send you free videos thru email and that will give you a good start.

books you may find many free ebooks on line , free tutorials online, and some will be very good.

i dont have any name now in mind.

since you have programming knowledge it will be much easier for you.

hope it helps you.