How to download and install Visual Studio 2017 for C# Programming?

Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs for Microsoft Windows. Visual Studio is one stop shop for all applications built on the .Net platform. One can develop, debug and run applications using Visual Studio.

Both Forms-based and web-based applications can be designed and developed using this IDE. The Visual Studio has the below-mentioned features.

How to Download and Install Visual Studio 2017

Let's look at the download process of Visual Studio IDE so that we can work with creating programs in the subsequent tutorials.

Step 1) Visual Studio can be downloaded from the following link
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/

You can select any of these

• Visual Studio 2017 Professional (30 Days trial period)
• Visual Studio 2017 Community (Free)

In this we will use Community Edition of Visual Studio 2017

Step 2) Run the Downloaded "vs_community.exe" file

Step 3) Click on Continue

Step 4) The Visual Studio 2017 Community Installer will start downloading its file. It will take some time depending on your internet Speed (For, Mine it took 7 mins on 2 Mbps net connection !)

Step 4) After it finished downloading, Installer will pop-up. Tick mark all the things as shown in the picture below. Also select ".Net Framework 4.7.1" , because its the newest and we will going to do all the programming with this platform.

It will take some time (for mine, it took approx 1 hour on 2 Mbps Net Connection)

Step 5) Once Downloading is done, it will ask for reboot. Reboot your PC and its done !

Step 6) Start Visual Studio 2017 Community and it will ask you to select a theme. Select your theme.

Finally how it looks : (I chose dark theme)

In Visual Studio IDE, you can navigate to File menu to create new C# applications.

Visual Studio Key Features

• Creation of an application in any .Net language– The Visual Studio IDE can be used to create an application in any .Net language. Hence, a developer can use C#, VB.Net or even F# to develop an application.
• Creation of any application type – The Visual Studio IDE can be used to create an application of any type. (Web-based application or Windows Forms-based application).
• Debug Applications on the fly – Applications can be tested as they are being built. The IDE allows one to run the program at any point of time during the development process. Hence, a developer can check for any errors during the development phase itself.
• Extensions –The IDE has the facility to install third-party extensions. An example can be Subversion, which is used for source code repository management. Subversion is used to upload code to a central repository. This is done so that a copy of the code will always exist. Visual Studio has the facility to integrate with such software from the IDE itself. Hence, a developer can work with code repositories from the IDE itself.