We will begin the chapter by learning how to install VS 2022. To get VS to run on your machine, you will need the following requirements:

• Windows 10, version 1909 or higher
• Windows Server, 1016 or higher
• A 1.8 GHz or faster 64-bit processor; quad core or better is recommended
• 4 GB of RAM; 8 GB is recommended
• Hard disk free space – 25 GB (up to 40 GB depending on the components installed)
• Administrator rights
• Full internet access during the installation

  Important Note

  32-bit and ARM operating systems are not supported; you will need either Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC edition, Windows 10 S, or Windows 10 Team Edition. To check all the requirements and technologies or systems not supported, go to https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/releases/2022/system-requirements.

VS 2022 is version 13 of this application created by Microsoft. VS has been consolidated among developers for having a friendly user experience, good support with regular updates, and powerful tools for writing clean and scalable code. VS has support for many technologies and platforms. For many developers, VS is the ultimate tool for all project types.

To understand the evolution of this tool, we must examine its history and timeline.

VS 6.0 was released in 1997, and it was the first version of this tool. This version was created to work with Visual Basic 6.0. Then, in 2002, a new version was released, which included compatibility with .NET and C# (a new programming language at that time). Since then, it's been the favorite tool for .NET developers.

VS started as a premium application with a closed license, but since VS 2005, Microsoft began a new strategy with a freemium (free/premium) version, which is a basic/free public version that you can...

Since version 2012, VS has had three flavors that cover all developers' preferences and needs. Just one of these three alternatives is completely free for the community.

In the following sections, you will see the differences between each version and learn about the features supported by each version, which are the following:

• Visual Studio Community
• Visual Studio Professional
• Visual Studio Enterprise

So, let's understand the main aspects of each version.

Visual Studio Community

Visual Studio Community is a free version that incorporates all the basic tools to create, build, debug, and deploy .NET applications and all the collaboration instruments integrated into VS.

Visual Studio Community has a limit of five users and is restricted to non-enterprise organizations.

The main tools in Visual Studio Community are the following:

• Basic debugging tools (tools for inspecting code during debugging)
• A performance and diagnostics...

The VS installation process has improved with each new version that has been released. Today, it is even possible to reuse the same installer to perform upgrades or workload modifications to create different types of projects.

In this section, you will learn how to do the following:

• Get the installer from the VS website
• Install VS

Let's see how to carry out the installation process in detail.

Getting the installer from the website

VS is easy to install, and you don't need an account or to take a lot of steps to get the installer. By typing Visual Studio community Download in any browser, you can easily find the link to download VS from the official page.

From the following link, you can directly get the installer:

https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/downloads/

On the webpage, go to the Visual Studio section, click on the drop-down control marked Download Visual Studio, and select the Community option (see Figure 1.1...

VS has a new version for Mac users. Using this version, developers can have a similar experience in MacOS as Windows users.

Due to incompatibility issues, which have to do with the operating system, .NET Framework is not supported in VS for Mac, only VS for Windows.

Figure 1.14 – VS for Mac – the startup screen

In Figure 1.14, you can see how VS for Mac looks when it is opened; it looks pretty much like the Windows version. The user can choose a recent project, open a project, or create a new one.

Important Note

Even though VS for Mac was made using technology for macOS operating system, the development team is working to maintain the same experience as VS for Windows.

Figure 1.15 – VS for Mac – the main screen

After opening a project, you can set up your toolbar, but by default, VS for Mac has the Solution Explorer, Properties, and Errors sections. VS for Mac is an excellent option...

In this chapter, you have learned what VS is, the different versions of the IDE available that you can choose to suit your project needs, the installation processes of VS 2022 for Windows, and the general concept of VS for Mac.

In Chapter 2, Configuring the IDE, you will learn how to customize the IDE to suit your needs as a web developer.