What you need before your first C# program
Most people who give up on web programming do not give up because the language is too hard. They give up because the first hour was spent fighting an installer. This lesson removes that hour.
Three things to have ready
- A machine with room to work. Any recent Windows computer will do. You need a few gigabytes of free space for the editor and the runtime.
- A development editor. The free Microsoft editor is enough for everything in this library. A paid edition adds conveniences, not new concepts.
- A place to put your work. Make one folder for practice, and keep every project inside it. You will thank yourself later.
The ideas worth knowing first
A C# program is a set of instructions the computer follows in order. A web application is a program that runs on a server and sends finished pages to a browser. When you type an address and press enter, you are asking a server to run that program for you.
That is the whole mental model. Everything else is detail that this track adds one piece at a time.
What comes next
Once the editor opens, spend a little time learning its windows in the editor tour. Then write your first program in the C# basics track. If you would rather understand the server side first, read how a dynamic web page really works.