Now that we've learned the high-level concepts and benefits of cloud computing and Windows Azure in the previous two chapters, the next question in our mind should be "How do I create my applications for the Windows Azure cloud?" To fabricate anything, we must have the right tools at hand. In this chapter, we'll discuss and install the tools necessary for local development of Windows Azure.
In order to build an Azure application, we need a framework to access the underlying classes, a development environment, and possibly a few hotfixes as well. The downloads necessary vary by OS (32 or 64 bit, XP or 7), language choice (.NET or PHP), and development environment (Visual Studio or Eclipse). The most current list of tools needed for Azure development is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsazure/cc974146.aspx.