I want you to have fun in class. Not fun at the expense of others in the class, but fun in experiencing the joy of exploring new things and acquiring new skills. We are engaged in the serious business of learning the subject matter, but it's ok to display playfulness and enjoy every new discovery along the way.
Java
The Java SE (Standard Ecition) Development Kit (JDK) that includes the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) and command-line development tools that are useful for developing applets and applications is available for free at java.sun.com. It has everything that you need to get started.
Visual Basic
Visual Basic is part of Visual Studio from Microsoft.
Visual Studio Express is a free version that includes Visual Basic Express. It can be download from Microsoft and installed on your home computer.
Virtual Labs is a series of guided, hands-on labs which don’t require any installation and are available to you immediately for FREE.
What is .NET?
.NET technology provides the ability to quickly build, deploy, manage, and use connected, security-enhanced solutions with Web services.
What are Web Services?
Web Services are self-describing software modules, semantically encapsulating discrete functionality, wrapped in and accessible via industry-standard Internet communication protocols including SOAP; XML; and Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI). They are defined through public standards organizations such as the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
What is XML?
XML is a markup language for documents containing structured information.
A markup language is a mechanism to identify structures in a document. Structured information contains both content and some indication of what role that content plays.
What is SOA?
There are as many definitions of Service Oriented Architecture as there are people in the technology industry.
SOA is a broad set of architecture and design principles and choices used in building distributed systems. The very fundamental part of building distributed systems is requiring that there is a described interface, or contract, between components and this contract is one step towards loose coupling. There are a variety of interface technology selections that provide further loose coupling, such as XML, WSDL and SOAP and other Web services specifications
InformIT
Sams Teach Yourself .NET
CLS Data Types
MSDN
MSDN Library
Development Tools and Languages
Visual Studio.NET
Code for Visual Basic Programmers
Code for Windows Forms Controls
Visual Basic Code Example Topics
Windows Applications Example Topics
Visual Basic and Visual C#
Reference
Visual Basic Language
Visual Basic Language Tour
Language Features
Data Types
Hardware
My favorite hardware site on the web is Tom's Hardware. They target “grassroots technologists”—the huge population of technology early adopters who have grown up on video games, computers and gadgets—and have an insatiable need for more. It's a great place to learn about the current computer hardware on the market.
Be sure to also check out Anandtech, another source for hardware analysis and news.
When it's time to buy hardware, my favorite website is NewEgg. You could also check PriceWatch to compare prices from many other sources, or go to HardForum to read or join hardware discussions.
Example Build A PC Project.
Operating Systems
Tools:
To see if your system's graphics are DirectX 9.0 compatible, follow these easy steps:
1. On the taskbar at the bottom of your screen, click Start, and then click Run.
2. In the Run dialog box, type "dxdiag."
3. Click OK. A dialog box will display the DirectX version you are running.
Networking
Tools:
Free Network Monitoring Software
Top 100 Network Security Tools
