Help a 2nd year CSE student

Hello CEans!

I am a 2nd year(3rd semester) student in the CSE department at NIT(National Institute of Technology). I am very confused about some learning topics. My current technical knowledge is: C, C++, HTML(XHTML), CSS and Javascript. And I am also about to start learning Java, PHP, Python and C#.
Its my aim(or desire) to build some small apps for windows. I also want to contribute to community forums of microsoft like that for silverlight, etc. But building windows apps is my first desire. I googled it and found some techs like .NET, Visual studio, etc. I really don't understand what is this .NET!? And is visual studio needed to build the apps?? Can I use any programming language to code in Visual studio?? Lastly, could you please explain "Google app engine". What it is? Do we create apps and put it there???
I would request you to assume my tech knowledge zero about the questions I have asked. It would really help me greatly to understand.
Thankyou in advance😀.

Replies

  • Kaustubh Katdare
    Kaustubh Katdare
    Welcome to CE, KS5 😀 . Good to know that you're interested in learning and contributing. Let's answer your questions one by one and I'll request other CEans to correct my answers if I'm wrong or add to my answers -

    1. What is .Net?

    .Net is a framework that runs on Windows platforms. .NET provides tools and libraries that enable developers to create Windows software much faster and easier. .NET benefits end-users by providing applications of higher capability, quality and security. The .NET Framework must be installed on a user’s PC to run .NET applications. Now, all the knowledge regarding how to program using .Net can be obtained from the Internet or from books (there will be plenty of them in your college library).

    2. Which app you want to build will decide what kind of software/framework you will have to use. Visual Basic, to the best of my knowledge is useful for building Windows Based, Dekstop applications but may not be very useful in building apps for Web.

    3. I believe you can't use any programming language to code in Visual Studio. Visual studio only supports limited number of languages (Built-in languages include C/C++ (via Visual C++), VB.NET (via Visual Basic .NET), C# (via Visual C#), and F#) but you can customize it to code in any language, with limited support.

    4. You'll have to clarify the definition of apps. Are you talking about Web apps? or Android Apps or iPad apps or any generic app?

    5. Google App Engine lets you use Google's infrastructure for your applications. I believe you'll have to read through the Google Apps documentation.

    6. There's huge learning curve. Read a lot and ask more specific questions. That's the great way to move ahead. 😀
  • complearner
    complearner
    You said that you are a beginner so i will explain in very simple terms.
    -- .Net: Technically it is framework but you can see it as a collection of libraries. That is when you make some software you have to use different libraries like in c, c++ for ex. So there are lot of system libraries that you have to use also. So .net offers you a single package which has all the required system libraries and external libraries in it so that you don't have to go for individual one.

    --Visual Studio: Its an ide for .net's language specially. Means it offers to use .net framework with languages like java,vb,c,c#... By adding .net to these languages,it provides additional features to these languages and hence make them more powerful.
    If you use visual studio,than your work will become more simpler than without it or there are individual ide for each lang. also , so you can go for them .
  • KS5
    KS5
    Thankyou for such a valuable reply. Regarding the clarification of "apps", I meant creating some "small windows apps(GUI based) like, a calcutor, a small music player etc" and "web apps".

    You told, "Visual Basic, to the best of my knowledge is useful for building Windows Based, Dekstop applications"-----but should I prefer Java or C#? And what about web apps?----- Well, I would like to aquaint you with the news that I am going publish my personal website(self coded).

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