.NET Development Environments

Commercial Development Environments

Microsoft Visual Studio: Microsoft's official .Net IDE. These can be pricey, but they are very well supported by Microsoft and offer many features integrated into the editor.

Visual Studio Express Editions: Microsoft now allows FREE download and use of Visual Studio Express Editions. They posess all the needed tools for software development, but lack some of the large-scale power tools some people will be used to (like source control). Available for web development, C#, VB, C++, and SQL. Each component is a separate download, and requires registration to keep working after 30 days, a small price to pay for one of the best development environments available (and certainly in the free price range). There are no extra license restrictions or limitations for using the express development tools instead of the professional version to develop and distribute commercial programs. Open source tools can provide many of the same features as those found in the express editions, and they also include features only found in the professional editions, like unit testing.

MonoDevelop: Allows you to develop with .NET and GTK#, for Linux, MacOSX, and Windows.

SharpDevelop: SharpDevelop or #develop allow's you to create C# and VB.NET projects on Microsoft's .NET platform. It's an open source project, so that means you do not need to spend lot's of money on the full version of Microsoft's Visual Studio! It has several features not found in the Visual Studio Express editions.