VS 2008 Pro

[Kreij]

So ... I'm working dilligently on my project at work (a small ERP system).
I hit a wall with the express edition of C# and Sql Express that I cannot hack my way around.

Go to boss and he okays the purchase of a copy of Visual Studio 2008 Professional.
It came with a copy of Sql Server Developer too!

Finally, a real, non-crippled environment to work in.

Probably not very interesting to you all, but I'm pretty excited.
As the IT Manager for a small biz, I don't have a budget. Just have to ask when I need something and I won't ask if I can work my way around it and get acceptable results.

[Jizzler]

My last job was at a small biz... the boss' answer was always "find it online".

Anyhoo, good for you. So far I've been doing good with C# Express and XNA. The XNA framework handles quite a bit of the nitty gritty so picking up C# hasn't been too hard.

A few more tutorials and I'll start planning out my goal: a classic SNES-like RPG.

[Kreij]

ARgh ... I was playing with XNA in VS2005 Express editions and then find out that it's not supported (at least from a template standpoint) in the 2008 edition. You can still use the framework and stuff, you just have to do it all manually.

The MS devs have promised that the next iteration of XNA will be compatible with the 2008 IDEs, so I am not too miffed.

The other thing that made me grumble was that XNA did not have any pre-defined methods for simple primitives (like a cube, sphere or cone). But hey, it's free.