C# Bible

Features

• Cover Type: Paperback with 798 pages
• Published by: Wiley June 15, 2002
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 0764548344
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-0764548345
• Book Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 2 inches
• Weighs: 2.8 pounds

Product Description
100omprehensive, the C# Bible will have even beginning programmers up and running with Microsoft's new C# language quickly and easily. But this title does not stop at just presenting the C# language - it teaches practical application development in the new .NET Framework. Starting at ground zero, readers will benefit from veteran developer Jeff Ferguson's insight into topics that include:
* Background of C#
* .NET concepts
* Defining data with variables
* Building containers with arrays
* Writing expressions and statements
* Object Oriented Programming with C#
* Maintaining state with fields
* Defining behavior with methods
* Building WinForm and WebFom applications
* Using C# in ASP.NET
* Working with COM

Back Cover Copy
* Master all the elements of this powerful new language from Microsoft
* Harness object-oriented programming techniques and advanced language features
* Create Web services, ASP.NET applications, and other .NET solutions

If C# can do it, you can do it, too . . .

Blending the object-oriented power of C++ with the simplicity of Visual Basic, C# is the ideal language for building sophisticated .NET components and applications. This all-in-one guide by a team of .NET programming pros delivers everything you need to get up and running with C# - a complete tour of the language and practical guidance on developing a variety of .NET solutions. Take the language tour and get the scoop on C# basics and object-oriented techniques as well as on advanced topics such as delegates and versioning. Then turn to the solutions section for all the examples and source code you need to jumpstart a C# project, whether it's a Windows Form or an ASP.NET application.

Inside, you'll find complete coverage of C#
* Get up to speed on expressions, functions, data types, and other C# fundamentals
* Master classes, overloaded operators, inheritance, and other object-oriented tools
* Harness the power of namespaces, interfaces, enumerations, and delegates
* Explore the ins and outs of exceptions, attributes, versioning, and unsafe code
* Create real-world Windows Forms and WebForms applications
* Build components to access files or a database
* Use C# in an ASP.NET application
* Integrate COM with .NET using C#

Reader Reviews
I praised this book on a Mircosoft newsgroup... But the more I read this the less I like it. I wanted to share some thoughts here. After comparing this book to a few others on C#, I feel this has one a more comprehensive table of contents. You get a full 9 pages on XML commenting while others give a paragraph or two. There are some cool chapters such as "Building Mobile Applications", "Working with COM", "Working with COM+ Services" and ".NET Remoting". These are topics that my 1600 page VB.NET book (Francesco Balena, Microsoft Press) didn't cover. However, there are a lot of typos, a lot of fluff, explanations are sometimes very poor, and organization is pretty bad. It hasn't been very thoroughly proofread. Take this for example: "Abstract classes are also, by definition, virtual methods..." Still not sure how a class can be a method. There are a lot more like this, but re-reading the paragraph you can generally figure out what they're talking about. By fluff, I mean that they do things like give an example of operator overloading for each and every unary operators (come on, do I need an example for unary plus AND unary minus?) Or how to cause about 6 different exceptions (OutOfMemory, StackOverflow, NullReference, etc) and how to catch each one. It's a good way to pad the page count, that's about all. The overall organization of the book doesn't make it a very good read, either. It really skips around a lot. For example, talking about overloading members and virtual members BEFORE talking about classes seems like a poor choice to me if you're really aiming to help novice programmer. It claims to be written for novice and experienced developer alike, but I'm not sure it makes a great first book on .NET. Although, if you are a veteran programmer, you'll fly through the first 11 chapters since they are written more so for the novice. If you already know VB.NET and want to transition to C# (like I'm doing) then this book will get you up and running with all of the important things. However, the WROX books have gotten some good reviews on newsgroups, so I might give those a try instead.