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Programming with .net

I've just recently learned C# and am interested in .net but I don't know where to begin.
I know .net is just a bunch of libraries and can be used for web programming?
I'm not quite sure what areas in .net that I need to learn?
I don't know what I am trying to accomplish with .net? But I want to learn .net.
What other things can be achieved with .net?
Thanks.
Added -
The 2D class that I finished was a C#/Winform/XNA class working with 2d objects. Though there was never once a reference about .net in class. I just learned C# which is comparable to C++ and Java and Winform = just using the tool box and hooking up controls to back end code. XNA portion was being able to use the hardware to draw primitives and manipulate data going through the model->view->project pipeline.
What part of this class was .net? None right?

You can do nearly anything with .net (the same is true for most other platforms).
You can use ASP.NET for web programming, Windows Forms or Windows Presentation Foundation for GUI development.
There are also lots of functionality for networking, database development and XML or Image processing.
But the question is, what do you want to achieve?

I know .net is just a bunch of libraries and can be used for web programming?
.NET is much more than this. It is not restricted to web programming. There are possibilities for doing Windows Applications (WPF), Web Applications (ASP.NET), Network Communication (WCF), Database Access (ADO.NET), ..., you name it. So just pick a language you would like to learn like C# and go ahead and visit MSDN.

.Net is a managed runtime with libraries. It is not exclusive to building "web" applciation or pages.
The .Net Framework is 'the libraries'.
The CLR is the runtime (where the specification thereof, is deposited into a standarization organization)
C#/VB.Net/F# are flavors of different syntaxus (how do you spell this in plural?) used to instruct the runtime, using the libraries, to perform actions in an order you define (AKA programming)
Wanting to learn .Net is akin to learning another language/gammar. If you have no previous knowledge of "language/gammar" itself, you are using this specific language/runtime to learn 'language' in general.
Hope this helps,

Sorry, but if you've just used the toolbox to hook some stuff together you haven't learned C# or programming. You've learned how to hook some stuff together, but you're obviously interested in learning how it works. Seems like you're going to have to learn a lot of stuff from scratch. There's a lot to learn...
I think your best bet to learn .Net and C# (you can't really learn one without the other) apart from following a course specific for that goal is to find yourself a good book that explains the whole picture and run through the examples in the book.
Looking on internet, asking questions, and collecting bits of examples, etc. will give you little pieces of understanding, but I doubt you'll be able to get a comprehensive understanding of programming, .Net and C# that way, simply because you won't find a big picture explanation. I find a good book gives me a deeper understanding even though I've already worked with .Net/C# since it first came out, simply because there is much more explanation of how things work and why.
Personally I really like the Pro series from Apress: have a look at Pro C# 2010 and the .Net 4 Platform
It might be perfect or not depending on your understanding of software development. Otherwise just search for C# and see if other interesting books pop up.

On what factors should we opt Java or .Net technology for a windows application?

I am quite aware of both java and C# .Net .when i try to create a new windows application which are the factors that decide which technology should be opted?
I know of one thing ,for great and faster UI development Visual studio helps a lot.

There are several factors I would consider...
What are your programmers used to working with already? What third party libraries are you likely to need, what's available on both platforms?
Does platform independence matter to you?
Would LinQ be advantageous?
If you're starting from scratch, costs for the platforms?
Both platforms have strong communities around them...
Hope this helps...

Dotnet is pretty much native in Windows which obviously makes it more suited to writing Windows programs. Using Java in a Windows-only environment makes it much harder for you since it effectively just adds another unnecessary API layer.
You will soon realise that all integration points between your Java code and Windows are a bit problematic. For instance, creating installation programs, access file system, reading/writing the registry, starting/stopping services, task bar icons, using Windows GUI components (media player, IE...), help file system...
It all boils down to this imo: The Dotnet framework is much richer in terms of functionality than the Java dito, mainly becuase Java is cross-platform and thus needs a "one-size-fit-all" approach to its API. My experience is that you will only get frustrated trying to "emulate" a Windows native program in Java.

Choose the one with which you are most familiar. The two platforms are different enough that skills from one does not transfer easily to the other.
In any case, try making a trivial application in both your scenarios and see how it works for you. The initial impression is important as it is probably indicative of how well the rest of the work will be.

It also depends on what kind of windows application you want to build. If it's just a question of building a simple standalone application then, considering you know both languages equally well, I wouldn't hesitate and would go for a 100% microsoft solution, especially if you have to do specific things like accessing ActiveDirectory, the windows registry, etc.
Not that you can't do it in Java : you can always use AD through LDAP in Java for example, but the APIs are just "a bit" more complicated than the .Net ones (try to decode objectSIDs in Java without a few tricks).
Now if you have to build an enterprise app. I just feel that popular frameworks like Spring and Hibernate are always coming out after their Java counterparts (disclaimer : this is a personal opinion; I didn't do any research on this, thoroughly comparing frameworks in both languages, but that's just the feeling I have). I don't know how good the .Net implementations are though, so I don't have a point of view on that. I just remember writing .Net 2.0 apps and not liking ADO.Net at all.
My view is that the frameworks I like do exist in both languages, but they are first developed for Java, then ported to .Net.
Now I'm not the kind of developer trying to defend his favourite language over the others. If I don't have external constraints to develop, then I choose whatever language gets my app up and running faster and in the most efficient way.

...But with java you will have crossplatform application on scratch.
Also coding UI in java is not difficult - if you read some guides before and use some frameworks as swing application framework or SWT framework.

If its Exclusively for Windows then .Net is best bet.

Yeah for a pure cross platform application Java can't be beat, but if you can manage it Silverlight is a subset of WPF and a pretty compelling cross-platform proposition on its own.
Productivity-wise I think WPF has an edge as it has a nice XAML markup language that can be easily created with the built-in designer in VS.NET or integrates nicely with MS' suite of expression products.

ArcGIS Development.Java vs .Net(C#)

I'm a computer scientist and i've been working with Java mostly to develop applications.
I just been hired in a company that makes projects with ArcGIS.
The company has hired na electrical engineer to develop the arcGIS projects.
This engineer used to customize ArcMap with VBA and lately extensions with .NET and C#.
I want to take a new path and start using the ArgGIS Engine with Java.
I want to know if this choice is right.Has any of you been developing with Engine-Java and how difficult is it(The use of JNI -for which i have little knoledge- is making it more difficult? ).
Also I have a little experience with .NET and c++ but not C#.I will have a big learning curve with this path?
Also which are the advantages and disadvantages and limitations of each method?

Hard question to answer.
The general opinion seems to be that C# is easy to learn if you know Java.
IMHO your biggest problem is going to be learning and manipulating the massive, convoluted ArcGIS object model. Choice of language is probably secondary.
My instinct is that C#/.Net is probably more popular for desktop programming with ArcGIS, so you'll get more community support with that. But I don't know. There's clearly a lot of folks using Java with ArcGIS - I suspect it's mostly server work, but I'm not sure. You might be able to figure out how popular ArcEngine with Java is by checking out the ESRI forum activity.
EDIT. You probably need to decide whether learning C# is going to be valuable in future to your employer (and your career), and balance that against some assessment of whether using Java with ArcGIS engine is unusual, and therefore more risky. Only you can answer the first question.

I absolutely in all respects suggest you stick with C#/.Net over Java. Last time i looked (take this with a grain of salt), the Java Library + COM inter-opt done with ArcGIS is pretty slow when working with certain elements (Arrays, oh god the arrays), also i am pretty sure Java will most likely be the next language to be put onto the cutting block in the near future(VB6 is now getting the axe). Also ESRI's java community is pretty tiny compared to their C#/.NET (however about 50 times bigger then their C++ :()

I would go for .NET and C#
If you know java and C++ than C# must be easy. You will just need to find your way through the .net framework that's all.
You will be safe with C# if you ever have to make some rich internet application in combination with arcgis and Silverlight (C#).

Effort estimation: using C / Win32 or learning C# / .NET

I intend to write a small application to scratch a personal itch and probably make the life of some colleagues easier. Here is what I have:
10+ years of experience in C
Plenty of experience in programming against the Win16/32 API in C from the Win3.1 to 2000 days.
C library written by myself already doing about 75% of what the application shall do.
What the application shall do:
open a binary, feed it into the mentioned library.
take the resulting text output and feed it into a new Excel Workbook.
apply some formating.
integrate nicely with the Windows environment (availability in "Open With...", remember some stuff using the registry etc.)
(maybe later) before giving the CSV data to Excel, parse it by looking up the meaning of some values in an XML file.
Except for the XML parsing part I have done all of that stuff before including COM / Office Automation in C/Win32. There is a lot of boilerplate code involved, but it is doable and the result will be a pretty small application without the need for an installer.
So why even think about C# / .Net?
no experience with parsing XML
the promise of less boilerplate code for the Windows and Excel stuff (yes, I have done C++ with OWL, MFC, ATL etc. but I am not going there anymore - not for free/fun)
Since I have also experience with C++, VB(not .Net) and a little Java / Objective-C I suppose learning C# will all be about the .Net libraries and not actually about the language.
My considerations so far:
Learning .NET might be fun and might result in less code / first steps in a more modern environment.
Sticking with what I know will lead to a predictable outcome in terms of effort and function (except for the optional XML stuff)
VB looked great at the beginning until the projects where about 80% done, then the pain started and the DLL coding in C. I am concerned history could repeat itself if I choose .Net.
My primary objective is the functionality. Effort is a concern. The XML parsing is optional.
Please advice.
Update: one thing I forgot to mention explicitly is that I am also worried about easy deployment of the tool to my co-workers. With Win32 I am pretty sure I can come up with an EXE file < 1Mb that can be easily emailed and does not require installation. With .Net not so much. Can I create the necessary MSI or whatever in Visual Studio Express (free) or do I need 3rd party tools?

as others have your question mostly covered, I'd just like to quickly comment on your considerations:
Learning .NET might be fun and might result in less code / first steps in a more modern environment.
Totally agreed. It is definitely fun and usually it does result in less code. The investment you make now will certainly benefit you in future projects. It is way faster to program in .Net than in C. Not only it is easier, but it is also safer. You are isolated from many programming errors common in C mostly related to memory mismanagement. You also get a very complete managed API to do stuff you would usually need to build your own framework.
Sticking with what I know will lead to a predictable outcome in terms of effort and function (except for the optional XML stuff)
Hence your indecision. :-)
VB looked great at the beginning until the projects where about 80% done, then the pain started and the DLL coding in C. I am concerned history could repeat itself if I choose .Net. My primary objective is the functionality. Effort is a concern. The XML parsing is optional.
.Net is an entirely different beast from VB. Most of the things you wouldn't be able to do in VB, or at least do them easily, are supported by .Net. For instance, Windows Services are a snap to build in .Net. Socket programming is also supported, but there are very few reasons to do it yourself, as you've got loads of communication APIs with .Net. You've got web-services, .Net Remoting, MSMQ management, and more recently WCF. Proper multithreading is supported by .Net, unlike the idiotic apartment model in VB. In case you really need to go low level, you can also actually use pointers in C#, inside of unsafe code blocks, even though I would never advise to do so.
If you really need to do things in C, then integrating is also relatively easy. You can create COM objects and use interop to work with them from .Net. You can also interact directly with plain ol' dlls using DllImport. Using www.pinvoke.net makes it easier.
When I developed in VB, sometimes I also had to go back to C++ to do stuff that I wasn't able of doing in VB. Since I began programming in .Net, the only extremely rare scenarios I would need to go back to C++ were when I needed to use legacy COM components that used types I was having a hard time to marshal via interop. I wouldn't worry about history repeating itself.

If you're using COM, you may be interested in using C# 4.0 instead of earlier versions - the downside being that it's only in beta. But basically it makes COM stuff somewhat less ugly for various reasons.
I'd expect there to be plenty of good C libraries for XML parsing by now. I would expect the main benefit to actually be the knowledge gained. I doubt that you'll actually produce the code faster for this project, but the next one may well be a lot quicker.
How much do you care about learning new stuff?

It sounds like an ideal project for learning C# & .NET.
You know most of what you need to do so you can use that to gain a base level of understanding of C# & .NET which you can then apply to the stuff you need to learn.
As Rune says though, a key driver could be the timescales. If this is something you need in a hurry then coding it in C & using win32 directly might be the answer.
Sorry I couldn't be more definite.

I think you should use C#. With your experience the learning curve won't be too steep. The code will ultimately be cleaner (and less of it) than you probably could with C/Win32.
There is probably going to be no problem using your existing C-library with the [DllImport] attribute.

It depends. :-) It depends on whether you want to do this quickly or if you want to learn something new. It depends on whether you will be the only maintainer of the code or if others will maintain it in the future. It depends on how complex your xml handling will be and on how complex the COM automation is.
You will probably get a working application quicker if you do it in C than in C#. Both since you have much of the stuff needed already in place and since you know C well.
But this project sounds like a good match for C# and .Net. .Net has great support for XML and COM interop is easy but clumsy in C# (much better in the next version!). So if you are interested in learning C# and .Net this would be a good project to do so.
I would definitely do this in .Net and probably C# (but I am biased). Using .Net would probably result in code that is easier to read and maintain and most probably easier to write. So if you are interested in learning C# I would suggest you go for it!
Edit:
You worry about the size of the executable if you write it in .Net. I doubt that will be a problem, for most if not all of the libraries you will use for a project like this will already be installed on your computer. 1 Mb is rather large for a .Net executable, event for a big project.

a short notice on the installation. .NET is as default xcopy-able so you wouldn't need an installer for the exe to be usable. Mail it around (or with the next release of the .NET framework optionaly leave it on a network share)

You could look at building a hybrid system that uses C++/CLI and C#. C++/CLI provides a nice bridge between the two and lets you easily split different parts of the system between the managed and unmanaged worlds.
Not sure if the setup projects are included in the free versions of visual studio. But you could use clickonce (included with the framework) or WIX (open source XML based msi creation tool).

learning C# will all be about the .Net libraries and not actually about the language
No there are many things you need to learn about the language (delegates , events , generics ...) and also it is object oriented and it manages the memory by itself and yes no pointers :)
anyway C# and .NET are great all you need is some effort to get up to speed

Is there a reason I should not start with C#

I think I'm leaning toward C# and .net as a concentration language for learning web development. I would like to learn good programming fundamentals and I've looked at pretty much everything else. The four I've narrowed it down to have been C#, Python, Ruby and PHP. Is there a reason to stay away from C# (and I don't think the cost issue would really apply to my solo-developer situation but I could be totally wrong). Any thoughts?
I realize that these are all great languages so I'm not trying to ask which is the best overall. However, would Ruby be a viable alternative for a first language or does it have too much "magic under the hood" coupled with Rails, and unorthodox methodologies? I do like what I've seen with the language.

This is likely to result in a flamewar but I think C# is a pretty good language to start with for Web Development.
It is a full featured object oriented language and is statically typed and compiled. It's very well documented and has a huge developer community.
If you absolutely have to run on Linux/Apache and do not want to use Mono, that would be a reason not to use C#. Other than that, I don't think there is a compelling reason not to, particularly with ASP.NET MVC, which lets you move away from the WebForms model.
This is not to say that WebForms is necessarily bad but some might object to WebForms as it introduces abstractions that are not inherent in other web development platforms.

If you go with C# for web development, depending on your experience with web technology, I'd heartily recommend starting with ASP.NET MVC before ASP.NET Web Forms.
ASP.NET Web Forms is the original style of building ASP.NET applications, and tries to abstract a lot of the details. It allows you to build applications without realising what's happening under the hood (post data, state management). In my opinion, these abstractions although making things easy at first begin to "leak" when you get into more complicated scenarios (as this tutorial proves).
ASP.NET MVC on the other hand makes it easier to build web sites that are a lot "closer to the metal" while still keeping you productive. If you want absolute control over the resulting HTML and aren't afraid of things like cookies, form tags, post and query string data, then you might enjoy ASP.NET MVC a lot more.
Of course it would be beneficial to know both. But if I was starting now, I'd probably start with MVC and move to Forms (then realise how bad it is and move back :)).

There are no "best language over all". You use one tool for the purpose it has been made, that's why there are several tools.
Since your question is "why not learn C#", I'd say :
If you plan to work with other OS then Windows (Mono cannot compare).
If work in an env or with people not .net friendly (e.g : bank, scientists)
If you work in an env or with people that are expert in another good tech (never underestimate the use of a good master).
If you think Free Software matters so much that using a MS product is not worth it.
If you don't like MS Visual Studio (working in c# without a good IDE is a pain).
If You plan to program something that .net is not suited for (e.g embedded devices, scripting, real-time, fault tolerant system, AI, etc).
If you are a web dev and can't afford a Windows Server Licence.
If you want to learn programming with the very basics, including simple functions and quick and dirty scripts.
Now, I program in Php, Python, Java and C#. Python is my language of choice, but c# is really the first MS programming tool that seduced me : it's clean and efficient. Really, it's about what you want to do, not a question of religion.
Make YOUR choice.
That's said, C# sucks and Python rocks.

I agree C# is a pretty complete language, it's syntax is clean and extensible. There's a huge amount of web resource already available, but and it's a big but, it effectively ties you to windows as your platform. For web especially that's an important consideration. On the desktop windows is king, but for web servers the market it isn't nearly so dominant.
Another side issue, if you're looking at rich media on the web you have to consider Flash and/or Silverlight. If you go C# then you're someway to using Silverlight without learning a different language.

Don't worry about the cost. The compiler is free to use, along with the rest of the Fx SDK, and you can even download Visual Studio for free.

The disadvantage to learning C# is that it ties you to a proprietary platform and software stack. Now, there is Mono, which does a good job of implementing much of C# and .Net, but the primary and most complete implementation is Microsoft's which is non-free.
I have not used C# enough to debate it's technical merits with respect to Ruby or Python. I can say, however, that learning to use and even contribute back to free software can be quite educational, in addition to the other benefits (discussed in length elsewhere) that free software provides.

c# is a good language to start with because:
It is a very good and very clean language
It has an excellent library (.NET framework). This is one of the most important things to consider when choosing a language.
It is very popular, you'll always be able to find the answer you are looking for from the community.
If you know c#, you pretty much know VB.NET.
c# is syntactically similar to Java. Learning c# won't teach you Java's libraries, but it will significantly reduce the learning curve if you want to enter the Java camp.
c# is syntactically similar to c++. Again, it uses a different library and unlike c++ you get memory management; but the learning curve should be somewhat reduced if you decide to play with c++.
As for the web...
ASP.NET webforms does a lot of magic for you. ASP.NET MVC (just released) does almost no magic for you. For learning, MVC is the better choice.

C# is a great language to use. And since you are using it via the web and not desktop applications for example, you don't have to worry about being multi-platform since the code is run on your server and the output delivered to the clients. With that said, you will have to find Windows hosting (which can sometimes be a bit more expensive) or use mono (which isn't exactly the most updated software out there). The downsides are minimal though, grab a copy of the express edition and go for it!

I think the cost of deployment might be a different thing, i.e. if your project needs to scale horizontally, and add more servers to load balance or even for geographically distributed servers. Usually the windows hosting will run a bit more than linux (without even considering the flame wars reasons).

C# is fine for starting if you are doing web development. However, I recommend that you don't start programming with web development. Web development is hard to get right. Way harder than little command line things. I recommend that you get some good experience programming for the command line, and then move up to GUI, and then move on to the web. The web has a whole bunch of things you have to worry about. You have to know 3 languages (HTML, JS, C#(or insert your server side language here)). Plus you have to worry about all the browser quirks and stuff. And that's without even getting into databases. Which is usually used in most web applications, but opens up a whole other can of worms.

Considering all the answers so far, I thought I'd look at all four languages mentioned.
While I've done a lot of development in PHP, and sadly continue to do so, I think PHP was never a great language (though it had a few great elements) and these days there's not much point picking it up. It remains extremely easy to get into but I think in general, PHP is a "bad habit".
Python is a great language, but to me, Ruby is all that Python is and a bit more. Personally I would go for Ruby.
C# is also a great language, but while I haven't used C# enough to say anything with confidence, I feel that Ruby is a better choice.

No reason in particular to stay away from C#. It's as good a language as any. Stackoverflow uses it for example, so it works on a successful website, and you can get jobs programming in it.
The proprietary thing would be a consideration if you were programming as a hobby or off your own limited budget, or you wanted to contribute to the development of the compiler/language. I'm guessing neither of these are the case. (Edit: as others have pointed out, open source environments for C# exist.)

It depends on a couple of things. C# and .Net is populate and th tools are really very easy (complared to Java! Java developer talking here...) but Windows Hosting is expensive vs LAMP (which include Ruby, Python and PHP).
For me it all depends on the tool that you want to use. For web services etc I would use C# but for a simple website PHP since its easy.
It also depends on the job market of your location... here in South Africa you get alot more C# jobs and not much PHP etc. Off course if your a freelance you will struggle to find work.
For me Ruby again is good for my own person stuff but you don't get any Ruby jobs here.

My advice? Learn the differences for yourself. Play around with both of them. If you have a project in mind, write a prototype for it in them. You'll always be at the mercy of other peoples' biases otherwise.
ASP.net (C#) and Ruby on Rails are used in high-profile sites, so you can't go too wrong with either one. Might I also suggest that you try out Python programming with django? It's what I tend to prefer for web programming.

I'm a C# .Net developer and I think it's great, but I'll highlight a danger in the Asp.Net WebForms. It is unlike the majority of other web frameworks and does A LOT of magic under the covers. As others have said ASP.Net MVC is probably more inline with other web frameworks (Rails for example). Web Forms abstracts a lot of the nuts and bolts of webdev away which If you want to be web developer you'll end up needing to know. So yes C# is great but I'd start with MVC and then look at web forms possibly. Also looking at other languages and frameworks is highly encouraged there's always stuff to learn.

Commercially I am a C# developer. I love C#. C# is a great strongly typed language. With Resharper installed I can build my ideas in code rapidly and flex it to my will.
When I go home each evening I use Ruby. Even though I have no refactoring support (snif.) I find I am much more productive in Ruby than in C#.
I worked writing a large ASP.Net application for a couple of years. We implemented MVC to try to detangle the view from the model. It always felt like I was fighting the framework, not working with it. The latest .Net frameworks for doing web application are based on Rails... just a couple of years behind. I love the language. I love the CLR. I'm not too keen on .Net.
I find the ruby community to be friendly and vibrant. The rails open source community produces loads of tutorials and plugins that make getting up to speed easy and putting your application together simple.
Another thing to consider (as far as choosing a language to learn) is that ruby is an Object Oriented language. Even classes are objects. C# is a Class Oriented language, ie. it provides you one way to create objects.. define a class first. (not totally true.. you can generate assemblies in memory using codedom.. but that is by no means easy).
This may seem like a subtle point, but there is a difference.. and until you get experience with an OO language like ruby or smalltalk it's not obvious what that is. Once you have felt the freedom of building objects by mixing in functionality at runtime etc. you find that all the 'work-around's you had to do in C# disappear. Not having the safety net of interfaces does seems scary at first.
In all, I'd learn ruby..
If you are new to programming (totally) I'd start with http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/
Then I would learn BDD (RSpec) and get test infected as soon as possible.
Then I'd consume rails tutorials and screen casts until my eyes popped
The only problem is .. if you start with ruby then later go to C# you'll find yourself going "Aaaaagh! This would be so much easier to do in ruby" all the time. I know I do.

It really depends on what you are trying to achieve. I program in both and to be brutally honest, if you are trying to make a career out of programming, I get paid twice as much for .NET programming. The types of clients that I do PHP dev work for are not the types that pay a lot (PHP is often chosen based on saving some $$$). .NET seems to be much more entrenched in larger corporations.
Just my observation...

No disadvantages really except that you will be unwelcome in those social groups (and even geographical regions) that pose themselves against the "evil Microsoft".
The language (better .NET platform) is quite good. One important thing is that it is being very actively developed causing some people trouble keeping up. But I'd rather have rapid development compared to year-long stagnation.
You might consider checking what employers in your area prefer as a technology stack.
Considering licensing costs you can consider the following: If it is a small site you can use Visual Studio Express/SQL Server Express for free and it will be sufficient. If you come up with some major heavy trafficked project you will likely to find a way to make revenues and cover licensing costs.

Learning C# is great in 2009.
Way back in the day, when I entered the professional world, the language landscape was very different. I coded professionally in C and Modula 3 (Pascal replacement language).
My point is that I would plan for the technical landscape to change over time, and plan for that in your professional career development.
Learning multiple platforms is a great way to accomplish this. For example, you could have C#/.NET as your primary skill, but also work with JAVA. When a new platform emerges, you could add it as your transition or backup skillset.