Setting up your development environment...

Hi newbies, today I'm going to tell you something about how to make your machine ready for coding. Even though, you can get your work done, without any of these, if you are really serious about web-development, I recommend you install these before we get started. There are quite a few things, you need to setup before you can build a webpage of your own. To name a few, the following are the prerequisites for ASP.NET development environment .
1)  IIS(Internet Information Services) : a server to handle your website
2)  SQL Server : a database to store the information submitted by your users
3)  VS (Visual Studio) : a development environment to write code within- makes your task a lot easier and very managed
4) SSMS(SQL Server Management Studio)  : a UI based tool to work with sql servers.

Hoping that you have already downloaded and installed the .NET framework and VS Express edition(as discussed in my previous blog) , I begin with the installation steps of IIS,  followed by the same of SQL server.

Installing IIS :
- you will need a windows bootable disk to install IIS on your machine.
- Insert the disk and then go to  Control panel - Add or Remove Programs - Add/Remove Windows Components.
- Select IIS from the list and check the checkbox(never mind if its still grey even after being checked).
- Click next and let the wizard finish the job. It may ask you to restart your system. Do it.

Note : If you don't have a windows bootable disk in hand, here is the download link : IIS 6.0. Download and install it.

Other Installations :
The SQL Server Express Express Edition should already installed in your system, while installing visual studio. So, its time to install the Sql Server Management Studio(SSMS) - a UI based tool to handle sql servers installed on your system. You can get it from here (SSMS 2005). After installation, just to be sure everything is up and fine, try connecting to your pre-installed database through SSMS interface. Use the following login credentials :
username : SQLEXPRESS
password : (blank)[check the box for windows authentication, the password box will automatically be greyed.]

What? Connection successful? Congrats buddy, now you are all set to dive into the world of ASP.NET. Thats it for this bulletin, until then take care and of course, Live life.

Tools you need to start crowding the internet using ASP.NET...

Let me keep this one short and to the point. The  following are the few must-have tools you'll need to have to get  started with Microsoft's ASP,NET.

1) Microsoft's .NET Framework 3.5(SP1)
2) Visual Web Developer 2008 Express Edition
3) Sql Server 2005 Express Edition
4) Notepad ++ - a neat and slick text editor
5) Mozilla Firefox 4 - a web-browser

Note of caution: search your local disk for the above mentioned tools before beginning to download('coz if you already have them, it will save you a lot of time).
And that's it. That's all you need to start creating ASP.NET web-pages of your own.
In the next blog, I'll try to give you some installation hints, that you might need in the course of installation and configuration of those tools. Take care everyone(yups, that includes me too).

Why become a programmer???

Many are there who are so confused to choose a field for themselves. Even though they seem to be interested in lot of things, at the core, their main problem is their multiple interest. I'm not talking about you, but that was my case a few years back. I liked gaming, I liked computers, I liked surfing internet; but I'd know what to do with that. My personal hindrance was my tendency to do all at once. I just didn't want to opt for one, leaving behind any other. What now, I somehow had to find a solution for myself. But then, as they all say, where there is a will, there's a way, for everyone, and for everything. And to prove that true, I eventually came up with an idea for myself, I chose programming. And trust me, if you are someone like me, i.e. who likes everything about computers, then yes, this is an ideal field for you. You get to work with computers, with internet; you get to use your logic to do something through your computer, and in its extreme case, if you are crazy(and of course creative enough at the same time), you can transform the entire computer-world for the good of yours as well as for the rest of the computing-mankind.
As the end note, hope we all will can decide what's best for us. Cheers. Live life.