As a guy coming from the world of .NET and asp.net, and moving gradually to python and web2py, i was frustrated with asp.net propriety dev tools. I had to download visual web dev express with sql server express which are all free! Free stuff eh? But i found out that u need to register them in order to continue using them after 30-day trial, and to register them na wahala......i mean real trouble.......for anyone who has ever gone through this route. I had to go illegal to remove the registration key. So long after ive left asp.net, i was once again persuaded to experiment with asp.net. This time around with free and opensource tools. The tools i used were .NET, SharpDevelop, iis express, Npgsql for easy database connection and manipulation, and PostgreSQL database server. With these tools, i built a web app i called Students CV Creator, in which a user can login, after validation, create and edit his/her CV profile and prints it out. All i wanted to do was to prove that one can develop a full fledge asp.net app with opensource alternatives to visual studio products.....

What i gained:
you learn more about programming if you when you use less visual studio......

Conclusion:
anyone interested in asp.net can learn it the hard way, using free and opensource tools, and make you learn more about raw coding validations, sessions, database manipulation, etc

i really wish i would continue on the asp.net path if not that ive found a new love - python and web2py

Cheers.......

I learnt c# with visual studio and i never had any qualms with it. Most visual studio software are easy to get just ask from your closest vendor. Apart from that VS 2015 is free for everybody. You can google it.
You might use all this open source software but if you want to create large enterprise software you have to come back to VS.
Please learn how to use VS.....in advice

PheemySamuel:
I learnt c# with visual studio and i never had any qualms with it. Most visual studio software are easy to get just ask from your closest vendor. Apart from that VS 2015 is free for everybody. You can google it.
You might use all this open source software but if you want to create large enterprise software you have to come back to VS.
Please learn how to use VS.....in advice

how long have you used visual studio?? Learning to use visual studio doesnt make you a programmer, but an IDE user. Thats my point. You see, getting visual studio or visual studio express is not the problem, but how well have you learned the C# you profess to know?? Visual studio hides all the complexities of C#, and you have to use an opensource ide in order to understand those complexities. Lets not even talk about downloading over 450mb size of new visual studio expresses every year, sometimes you have deal with conflicting dlls. And mind you, for every visual studio product you downloaded, you have to register it........is the reg key really easy to get Visual studio is nice, no doubt, but it is made for those experienced professional developers who already know the complexities of the .NET framework and are creating large projects with a specific project time frame.

For you who have learned C# with visual studio.......

(a simple question)
Suppose you have a textbox that contains users surname in asp.net, txtSurname, how do you validate the txtSurname.Text with RequiredFieldValidator; suppose you are to hard-code this into the code-behind without using web designer

Or

how do you hard-code a window form from CLI, and add a button to it with the button text to be 'this is a button', without using the forms designer

Remember to include the references you used or added

If you can post ur code here with references, and i assessed it to run correctly, then i will believe you have really learned C#;
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