I understand there are different "programming languages" one can choose (C, C++, C#, VB, Etc.). I think I understand that one can use Visual Studio as the "environment" in which one writes and debugs and compiles(?) their code.

I have seen mention of Visual Studio 2005, .NET 1.x, .NET 2.x, etc. What I don't understand is how .NET fits into the context of a "programming language" like C# and a programming "environment" like Visual Studio? What makes something .NET? Is it a variation of the "language" as in "VB.NET" or a variation or version of Visual Studio or something totally different?

Pascal,

This is a very simple explaination and the tech world may or may not agree. .NET is the ENVIRONMENT that you are developing in. Visual Studio is the interface to the programming languages that you write the code in. So VB.NET, C#, C++ are all languages that you write code in for your program in Visual Studio. The code is compiled in an environment that is called .NET.

It would behove you to read up on .NET and what it does as far as being able to bring all languages to a common language (I think it's call CLI for Common Language Interface) so that it can be executed without problem on any .NET environment.

Hope this is clearer for you.