When working with Visual Studio 2010, there are many steps required to get up and running so that you can develop applications that use SilverLight 4.  Of course the first thing you need is Visual Studio 2010, and as I have posted in other parts of my blog, if you are a full time student, Microsoft has a great site called Microsoft DreamSpark, which will get you started in the right direction.

The next step is to get the Microsoft Silverlight 4 Tools for Visual Studio 2010.  These tools include a great number of tools that you will need to develop Silverlight applications, including RIA Services.

The Silverlight Toolkit is another must have tool which is an open source project that has many additional controls and functionality for Silverlight development.

And finally, Blend, which can also be found via the Microsoft DreamSpark website.

For those of you that are life long students like myself, Microsoft has a great website that offers students proffesional level devloper tools to get you started and on your way. 

Microsoft DreamSpark

Software Availability as of May 2011:

• Visual Studio 2010 Professional
• SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer Edition
• Virtual PC (free on the web)
• Expession Studio 4 Ultimate (must have for XAML design)
• and of course all the Express Edition lines of developer tools.

Welcome to my new Blog.  This blog will cover a wide range of topics that are drawn from my experiences in the computer and technologoy field.  Since I am getting older, I also need a place where I can keep all the good information I find out on the Internet.