Advice to a student: What toys to buy...

A computer science student wrote me and asked me if I had $500 to spend on one application toy, what would I buy? He was asking if purchasing the Adobe Creative Suite would be a good tool for him. My reply:

It depends on what you want to do. Do you want to learn to do the graphic arts side of things? What shows on the page? Or do you want to do the programming, the code in the background that puts things on the page? The code that accesses the database and displays the data?

If you want to be a programmer, use the free visual studio express edition to start, then after you've learned it and are sure you want to be a programmer, purchase the latest visual studio version (currently 2010) so that you can work with projects. HOWEVER, if you are going to work for a company, don't buy it. Just use the free version while learning at home, and let your company buy your development environment for you.

Programmers RARELY do the art work too. CS5 is nice if you are artistic and expect to spend a lot of time working with design and art. If NOT, then don't use your limited funds to purchase something you likely won't use.

As a student, I'd save my money to pay bills. There are so many free tools out there you can use while learning. You can use trial versions as well. Once you get that job, your company will buy your toys.

May your dreams be in ASP.NET!

Nannette Thacker