Before we begin programming, we need to setup the environment. Unfortunately, my microphone wasn't working for this, so the video does not have sound. However I will try and explain it here. The Microsoft .NET framework is sort of like Java. It is allows you to create a program that runs off of .NET rather than being dependent on the operating system. This is great in the case of Java, because you can theoretically run the same program on a Mac or Linux based machine that has java installed. Unfortunately, .NET really only runs on Windows (yes I know about Mono.NET), but so does ArcGIS, so this point is moot.
I presume you already have your version of ArcGIS installed and running. To start we will download
Visual Basic Studio 2008 express editionVisual Basic Studio 2008 express edition, and install. The video shows how this is done. Your install may look different because you might also have to download .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.5. Newer machines may already have this done. Once the installation installation is complete, you will need to register the product within 30 days. This requires a Microsoft Live login. If you have a hotmail account, you are all set, otherwise you will need to sign up. To get to the registration, open VB Studio 2008, go to the Help menu, and click on register. Either login or setup (I cut this out of the video), and the next page will verify some information. Click on continue, and copy the registration code, paste it in the box, and now you have your free programming environment set up.
Next we want to install the ArcGIS SDK for .NET. In version 9.2 this was found on a separate disc, in 9.3 this should be included on the installation disc, and say something like SDK_dotnet. You might have to open up the disc and find the folder. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful, all the installation for work is done through ITMS. The installation should look something like the one in the video. I went ahead and did not install the files for Visual Studio 2005, as I will only be using 2008 in these tutorials. Theoretically you could follow these tutorials if you are using version 9.2 of ArcGIS, but you will need to dig up a copy of Visual Studio 2005, because there is no support for 2008 with Arc 9.2. Good luck doing that, because I think it is now officially unavailable.