This section of my site will concentrate on my main area of interest - programming. I've been writing programming in Visual Basic for about six years now, and eMbedded Visual Basic for the past year and a half. I've just started learning Microsoft's .NET Framework and the .NET Compact Framework for Windows CE. I've also tinkered with Java, Pascal, and C/C++, though I'm nowhere near proficient with those languages.

If you're interested in learning .NET programming, the best way is to dive in. To assist the budding programmer, I am developing a tutorial that aims to teach the .NET Framework in an easy to digest fashion. To follow the tutorial, you only need two packages: the Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 SDK, and Programmer's File Editor. The .NET Framework SDK can be downloaded from Microsoft's web site, while Programmer's File Editor can be downloaded from my web site. Code samples will be provided in Visual Basic.NET and C#.

Later lessons in the tutorial will require an IDE for quickly designing Windows Forms and to assist in debugging. Those samples will be done with Visual Studio.NET, Visual Basic.NET, or C# products from Microsoft. But if you (or your company) doesn't have the resources to buy  those products, there is a free Open Source IDE called #develop (Sharp Develop) that does well for developing C# programs. The latest version also handles Visual Basic.NET, but does not have a Form Designer for Visual Basic.NET projects.

For Windows CE developers, I am also writing sections on the .NET Compact Framework (for Pocket PC and CE.NET devices) and eMbedded Visual Basic 3.0 (for CE 2.0 and 3.0 devices). Device programming is what I'm most interested in, and the .NET Compact Framework makes developing for Windows CE very nice. While the .NET Compact Framework is replacing eMbedded Visual Basic as the choice in CE development, not everyone can afford Visual Studio.NET 2003 - which is currently the only official development tool available. Fortunately, Microsoft has kept the eMbedded Visual Toolkit available from their web site in a new 2002 edition. Plus, the Windows CE 2.0 developer kits are also available if you have older devices. More information on the tools can be found by searching Microsoft's MSDN website.

As time goes on, more sections will be added, so check back often.