Need a guideline to install the appropriate version of SQL Server on Windows 8

Hi Everybody, I just started to learn database programming with C#, but i am facing problems over problems. Actually I'm running Windows 8 Pro, x64 Architecture. I tried installing SQL Server 2008 Express and SQL Server Management Studio Express, it do get installed but was not working when i linked it to c# code. Anybody please guide me about how to install SQL Server and make it running on Windows 8 Pro... Thanks in anticipation

Regards,
Yasir Lateef