Get VB.NET Express

Because Microsoft is constantly changing their site, I'm not going to give you an exact web address to download VB.NET Express. Just go to their home page, Microsoft.com, and search for "Visual Basic Express". That should take you right to the page you need. You'll see a lot of other software that you can download and install too. Patience! If you're just getting started, my advice is to do just one thing first.

Follow Microsoft's instructions on their site to download and install VB.NET Express. The only cost is that you have to register with them to do it. You might also want to check their System Requirements. If you're running Windows XP or later, you should be just fine.

Get comfortable with Visual Studio

With VB.NET installed, start the program by clicking the "Visual Basic 2008 Express" icon in your All Programs list. You've started writing your first program.

Here's the first page you see (for VB.NET Express 2008). The Start Page is just information from Microsoft. You can close it immediately if you like.

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To start programming, click the File Menu and select "New Project..." then "Windows Forms Application" then type over "WindowsApplication1" in the Name textbox and use a new name, "SkipDays".

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VB.NET will respond by creating several files and folders on your computer and displaying a new "Windows Form" in a window like this:

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To better understand what's happening, stop right here and run your new program. You might think that you haven't written one yet, but you have. Or rather, VB.NET has. The files and folders that are created automatically by VB.NET will run before you have written even one line of code. The program only includes the blank form that you can see already in the Design window, but it will run.

To run the program in "Debug" mode, just press the F5 key on your computer. You can move, resize, and close the form just like any other window so it is a real program. This shows the form running:

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When you exit the form (use the "X" in the control menu just like you would for any other window), you should be back in VB.NET again and ready to start writing the code that will make your program work.