[...]... development opportunities for Visual Basic programmers ■■ Download and install Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8 ■■ Start Visual Studio Express and explore the Visual Studio IDE ■■ Open and run a Visual Basic program ■■ Use Visual Studio programming tools and windows ■■ Customize the Visual Studio IDE ■■ Save changes and exit Visual Studio This chapter introduces you to Microsoft Visual Basic programming... ready to start working with Visual Studio! Chapter 1  Getting to Know Visual Basic 2012  5 Starting Visual Studio Express 2012 To start Visual Studio Express and begin working with the Visual Studio IDE, complete the following steps Start Visual Studio Express 2012 1 On the Windows Start screen, click VS Express for Windows 8 If this is the first time you are starting Visual Studio, the program will... information about the Visual Studio software release—the book that you are holding now, my Start Here! Learn Microsoft Visual Basic 2012, and a second book designed for more experienced developers, my Microsoft Visual Basic 2012 Step by Step These two books work together to provide a comprehensive course on Windows 8 programming with Visual Basic 2012 Although I have written over a dozen books on Visual Basic... 2  Start Here! Learn Microsoft Visual Basic 2012 that developers know more than one programming language, in addition to specific skills related to database or web development Microsoft has tried to satisfy a wide range of programming audiences by bundling many different software development technologies into Visual Studio, including Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual Web Developer, and JavaScript Visual Studio... and Starting Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8 Before you can begin programming in Visual Basic, you need to install the Visual Studio software If you already have Windows 8 and one of the retail versions of Visual Studio 2012, you are all set already; the teaching in this book will apply to Windows 8 and the Visual Studio software that you have If you don’t already have a version of Visual Studio,... copy of Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8 directly from Microsoft After you install that product, you’ll be able to use the examples in this book to create your own Windows 8 apps 4  Start Here! Learn Microsoft Visual Basic 2012 Note  This book requires that you are running Windows 8 and that you have a version of Visual Studio 2012 installed on your system Although you can download Visual Studio... This product provides the Visual Studio IDE and tools that allow you to create Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++, or JavaScript applications for Windows 8 You also have to have Windows 8 installed on your computer—Windows 8 does not come with Visual Studio Express 2012 You must have an Internet connection to install the product The setup files for Visual Studio Express 2012 can either be installed... and installed later Installing Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8 To download Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8, complete the following steps: 1 Open a web browser (Internet Explorer or other) and go to the following web site: http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads 2 Click Visual Studio 2012 to see a list of the Express products available for Visual Studio 2012 Note  You must have Window... designed to teach readers with no programming experience how to use the Visual Basic programming language As part of that process, readers will also learn how to use the Visual Studio 2012 Express software, which they can download for free Chapter 1, “Getting to Know Visual Basic 2012, ” shows you how to download and install Visual Studio 2012 Express on your system The book assumes that you have purchased... questions, and then introduces the Visual Studio IDE, an electronic workshop where Visual Basic applications are built from the ground up You’ll learn how to download the Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8 software, how to start it, and how to get going with the Visual Studio programming tools Chapter 2: Creating Your First Windows 8 Application  In this chapter you learn how to build your first Windows . Product 5 Installing Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows 8. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Starting Visual Studio Express 2012 6 The Visual Studio Development Environment 7 The Visual Studio Tools. tutorial for readers who enjoy learning to do new things by actually doing them. Start Here! Learn Microsoft Visual Basic 2012 assumes no prior knowledge of Visual Studio or Visual Basic, and it focuses. with Microsoft Visual Studio 2012, the newest version of Microsoft’s bestselling software development suite. You will learn how to download a free version of the Visual Studio 2012 Express software