Frameworks are used。 3。0 gives you all of the essentials； and 3。5 gives you the extras。 For the examples in this book； you’ll be using Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition； because it’s freely available and has everything you need to get started with Visual Basic 2008。 The other Express Edition IDEs available from Microsoft are tailored to different languages （C# and C＋＋） or； in the case of Visual Web Developer Express； specific functionality that is too restrictive for our purposes。 1 …………………………………………………………Page 24…………………………………………………………… 2 CH AP T E R 1 ■ R E A DY ； ST E A DY ； G O ！ Microsoft also offers full versions of the Visual Studio IDE； such as the Standard； Professional； and Team editions。 Each of these editions has different features and different price tags。 See the Microsoft Visual Studio web site （http：//msdn2。microsoft。/en…us/vstudio/default。aspx） for more information。 If you already have Visual Studio 2008 Professional； you can use that for the examples in this book。 That edition can do everything that Visual Basic 2008 Express can do； and in fact； has many more options。 ■Note I personally use Visual Studio Standard or Professional in bination with other tools such as X…develop and JustCode！ from Omnicore （http：//omnicore。）； TestDriven （ http：// testdriven/）； and NUnit （ http：//nunit。org）。 The Visual Studio products are very good； but others are available。 Being a good developer means knowing which tools work best for you。 Installing and downloading Visual Basic Express from the Microsoft web site involves the transfer of large files。 If you do not have a broadband connection； I suggest that you install the IDE from a CD instead。 Downloading Visual Basic Express The following is the procedure for downloading Visual Basic Express from the Microsoft web site。 By the time you are reading this book； the procedure may be a bit different； but it will be similar enough that you’ll be able to find and download the IDE package。 1。 Go to http：//microsoft。/express/。 2。 Select the Download Now！ link。 3。 Scroll down to the Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition section； as shown in Figure 1…1。 4。 Click the Download link。 5。 A dialog box appears； asking where you want to store the downloaded file。 The file that you are downloading is a small bootstrap file； which you’ll use to begin the actual installation of the Visual Basic Express IDE。 Choose to save the file on the desktop。 These steps can be carried out very quickly—probably within a few minutes。 Do not mistake this procedure for downloading the plete Visual Basic Express application； because that’s not what happened。 The installation procedure will download the vast majority of the IDE。 …………………………………………………………Page 25…………………………………………………………… C H AP TE R 1 ■ R E AD Y ； ST E AD Y ； G O！ 3 Figure 1…1。 Selecting Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition Installing Visual Basic Express After you’ve downloaded the setup file； you can start the Visual Basic Express installation。 During this process； all the pieces of the IDE—about 300MB—are downloaded and installed。 Follow these steps： 1。 On your desktop； double…click the vbsetup。exe file。 Wait while the setup program loads all the required ponents。 2。 Click Next on the initial setup screen。 3。 A series of dialog boxes will appear。 Select the defaults and click Next to continue through the setup program。 In the final dialog box； click Install。 4。 After all the elements have been downloaded and installed； you may need to restart your puter。 After Visual Basic Express is installed； you can start it by selecting it from the Start menu。 Choosing the Application Type With Visual Basic Express running； you’re ready to write your first application。 However； first you need to make a choice： what type of application will you write？ Broadly speaking； in ； you can develop three main types of programs： …………………………………………………………Page 26…………………………………………………………… 4 CH AP T E R 1 ■ R E A DY ； ST E A DY ； G O ！ o A console application is designed to run at the mand line with no graphical user interface （GUI）。 o A Windows application is designed to run on a user’s desktop and has a GUI。 o A class library holds reusable functionality that can be used by console and Windows applications。 It cannot be run by itself。 So that you know what each type of program is about； in this chapter； you will code all three。 They are all variations of the Hello； World example； which displays the text “hello； world” on the screen。 Hello； World programs have been used for decades to demonstrate program ming languages。 Creating Projects and Solutions Regardless of which program type you are going to code； when using the Visual Studio line of products； you will create projects and solutions： o A project is a classification used to describe a type of application。 o A solution is a classification used to describe multiple applications that most likely relate to each othe