Setting up a Development Environment

[Les P]

I could use a little friendly advice!

Could a few of you good folks share with me a description of your
configuration.

Since '95 I have been a contractor developing applications using Borland
Delphi (Object Pascal) creating win32 C/S stuff.
Having recently completed amy last contract I decided to try my hand at
dotNet stuff and get some experience on the microsoft side of the fence.
(Kind of like taking a walking on the Wild Side)
I downloaded the trial version of Visual Studio 2003. So far I learned some
C# for win32.
I like C# very much (very similar to Object Pascal) and want to extend my
experience to ASP.NET
web applications.

I have some confusion about how to set up my environment so that I can
venture into ASP.NET aps.
I would like to keep it as simple as possible at first. Since I am doing
this at home and there is only one person working in the environent decreased
expense and simplicity are obvious objectives. But I would also like to hear
how development environments for groups of 10 to 20 developers are configured.

All of this may seem trivial to most of you but, then you all swim in these
waters every day. I'm just wading in and hoping that I don't drown before I
learn to swim. I don't have any experience with the MS development tools and
have a lot to learn and a long way to go in a short time.
Currently, I am using I am using XP Pro

--- The above is just background --- below are the questions ---

Do I have to create a network domain? Or can I use a workgroup?

If I must use a domain scenario, can XP be a domain controller? Or will I
need Virtual Server?

Should and can I use IIS 5.1 on the same machine.

Or should I just get an ISP to host my test apps. Would that ease some pain
and effort.

Will Visual Studio design web apps or do I need Front Page or Dream Weaver?

What other software can you think of that would be needed??
------------------------------
Thanks in advance,
Les

[Nick Malik [Microsoft]]

Hello Les,

"Les P" <Le**@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:61**********************************@microsof t.com...

I could use a little friendly advice!

Could a few of you good folks share with me a description of your
configuration.

Since '95 I have been a contractor developing applications using Borland
Delphi (Object Pascal) creating win32 C/S stuff.
Having recently completed amy last contract I decided to try my hand at
dotNet stuff and get some experience on the microsoft side of the fence.
(Kind of like taking a walking on the Wild Side)
I downloaded the trial version of Visual Studio 2003. So far I learned
some
C# for win32.
I like C# very much (very similar to Object Pascal) and want to extend my
experience to ASP.NET
web applications.
<<clipped>> Currently, I am using I am using XP Pro

--- The above is just background --- below are the questions ---

Do I have to create a network domain? Or can I use a workgroup?
You do not need a domain. You do need IP networking. You can develop
against the web server in the XP Pro box using 'localhost' with no
difficulties. (That's how I write my web app code, and I have access to a
LOT of machines).

If I must use a domain scenario, can XP be a domain controller? Or will I
need Virtual Server?
See above. No domain needed. Note that windows authentication is tougher
to develop with if you don't have a domain. (Useful for Intranet apps). I'm
fairly sure that XP Pro cannot be a domain controller. If you decide to
install a DC (I don't know why you would), then I'd advise another machine.
(The hardware isn't the expensive part. Sufficient hardware costs $500
these days... even less if recycyled. The license of Windows Server 2003 SE
is the expensive part. For your needs, this is almost certainly overkill.)

Note: if you find that you want to go "all out," then I'd recommend pricing
a copy of MSDN Universal Subscription, which includes licenses for VS2003
Enterprise Edition, SQL Server, FrontPage, Windows Server 2003, all the
Betas (including the next versions of SQL Server and Visual Studio), all of
Office, and a bunch more stuff. MSDN is a good investment.

Should and can I use IIS 5.1 on the same machine.
Yes, install IIS on your XP Pro machine. Easy to do.

Or should I just get an ISP to host my test apps. Would that ease some
pain
and effort.
Painful. Useful if you are planning to go into production on that
particular ISP, but no other good reason.

Will Visual Studio design web apps or do I need Front Page or Dream
Weaver?
VS2003 is fine for developing web apps, as long as you are using
code-behinds. It doesn't provide a rich out-of-the-box HTML experience,
though, and if you want to develop colorful and dynamic STATIC sites, then
I'd recommend that you get FrontPage (or a competing product of your
choice).

What other software can you think of that would be needed??

Depends on the kind of software you are developing. Most folks want to have
some kind of database under the covers. You can download MSDE for free
(desktop version of SQL Server without the useful management GUI) or you can
use a developer's license of SQL Server. You'd need to make sure that your
ISP can host SQL Server though.

HTH,

--
--- Nick Malik [Microsoft]
MCSD, CFPS, Certified Scrummaster
http://blogs.msdn.com/nickmalik

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this forum are my own, and not
representative of my employer.
I do not answer questions on behalf of my employer. I'm just a
programmer helping programmers.
--