Visual Studio is easily the most prized piece of software on a .NET developer's computer. This integrated development environment (IDE) is incredibly powerful, complex, and vast in terms of its features. On one hand, Visual Studio could be credited with the .NET platform's success, as many critics will argue that it's the best IDE ever created. On the other hand, it might be somewhat hard for a beginner to sink his or her teeth into this huge beast and all it has to offer.
Regardless of the software's reputation, Visual Studio is an essential tool for quickly building ASP.NET applications. That said, it's not without its issues, and we hope to explore some of those in this chapter.