Visual Studio .NET provides three programming languages: Visual Basic, Visual C#, and Visual C++. It also provides the Microsoft Development Environment and the Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine.

You can develop two types of programs using Visual basic .NET. Windows Forms applications consist of Windows forms that contain Windows forms controls. Web Forms applications consist of web forms that contain Web Forms controls.

The primary components of the .NET Framework are the .NET Framework Class Library and the Common Language Runtime. The .NET Framework Class Library provides pre-written code that makes it easier to develop applications, and the Common Language Runtime (CLR) supports the execution of any application written in a .NET language.

The Class Library is organized into 'namespaces' that contain the classes you need for developing applications.

When you develop a Visual Basic applications, the source code is compiled into Intermediate Language (IL) that is saved in an assembly. Then the assembly can be run by the Common Language Runtime.

You develop Visual Basic .NET applications from within Visual Studio .NET using the Integrated Development Environment (IDE). You use the Form Designer to design the user interface for a form, and you use the Code Editor to enter the Visual Basic code for the form.

A solution sonsists of one or more projects, and a project consists of one or more files. To work with the files in a project, you use the Solution Explorer.

To build a project, you use the Build command in the Build menu. To run a project, you click on the Start button in the Standard toolbar. And to end a project, you can click on the built-in Close button or on a button control that's provided by the application.