Additional resources for Visual Studio Express

I got a number of queries from people who wanted to get information on resources for the Express Editions that could help them get started. Please note that a lot of these are for VS 2005 Express Editions and we will update them as we get to shipping VS 2008 for the latest tool set.

We are upgrading the set of video feature tours for Visual Studio Express 2008 at RTM, to walk users through downloading and installing Express, creating their first program, and introducing the user to the IDE. It also highlights the new IDE and language features that are present in Visual Studio Express 2008. We have revamped our “Getting Started” links in order to provide quick pointers to our most popular documentation topics and online resources.We have also significantly updated our in-product Guided Tours.

Beginner Developer Learning Center isour one-stop shop for novice programmers who are interested in Windows or Web Development containing videos, articles, samples, book chapters, tips and tricks. Further, through a partnership with Wiley books, we offer a set of 17 chapters from the popular “For Dummies” book series that help Web programmers understand the fundamentals behind creating Web pages and getting started with Visual Web Developer Express. In addition, we now provide easy access to samples and tutorials through the Help menu in Visual Studio Express 2008 so you never have to search for them again.

Coding4Fun Developer Kit 2008 Vol. 1 is a collection of tools that provides a set of drag ‘n drop controls and components that enable rapid development of hobbyist API.. The Facebook Developer Toolkit is a set of controls and components that provide VB and C# wrappers for the Facebook API that allow you to easily and quickly develop .NET applications that you can share with your Facebook friends. To help you get started we’ve included a suite of samples, QuickStarts and video walkthroughs.

For a more in-depth look at the 2008 Express editions, be sure to check out Dan Fernandez’s blog where he is putting together a detailed 5-part series on “What’s in Visual Studio 2008 Express Beta 2?”.

Namaste!