Sixty Year Film Fan said
I have more computer language books on more languages and subjects than anyone except the library of congress and have been collecting and reading them since 1982. This is the best computer language book I have ever read. Most computer book authors are so knowledgeable, they cannot remember what it is like to begin at the beginning. Many things are such second nature to them that it does not occur to them to explain them. This book provides a clear explanation of every word, every concept, and every punctuation mark in every well chosen program used to illustrate his points. Clear cut distinctions between similar but not identical concepts. No question left unanswered and every question anticipated but nothing over explained and talked to death. Reading even a good computer book is often a struggle requiring fairly intense concentration but this one is a joy. It flows. If you want to learn C#, start here.
Blackbird Crow Raven said
I have read many programming language books (and written one myself (a Borland Delphi Troubleshooting Guide)); this one is by far the best I've come across. Perhaps that is partly because I may be a "visual" learner, I don't know - but this is definitely the one that flipped on the most lights for me.
Jim Stanicki said
This is an excellent explanation of C#, exactly what I needed. If Mr.Solis writes another book I will buy it. His direct style and logically constructed book works for me.
E. Mitchell said
Having programmed a lot in C++, it was time to learn C#. This book is an excellent and efficient solution for the C++ programmer (and likely also the Java programmer) wishing to come up to speed in C#. Most of the concepts and much of the C# syntax are similar to C++.
Each C# concept is covered concisely and to the point - which means it is quick and easy for someone familiar with the general concepts to learn C# in a minimum of time.
I did encounter a few oddities - the concept of a delegate is easy once I realized it is basically a C++ pointer to a function - but with C# safe type checking place. But I had to look at Microsoft's own documentation to pick that up.
LINQ is a programmatic interface to databases - except none of the examples in the book use it to interface to a database. (For those who might be wondering about LINQ, the Language INtegerated Query is an SQL-like set of program statements for making SQL-like queries into data structures or databases. LINQ is not identical to SQL but close enough that SQL programmers will find this to be a straightforward introduction.)
Illustrated C# is an introduction to C# - this is not a Windows programming text - if you are headed in that direction, you'll also need good Windows/Windows Forms reference as well.
Overall, I was looking for a book to get me quickly from C++ to C# and this book is perfect to do that. I recommend this book to anyone with existing programming experience wishing to come up to speed quickly. If you have not programmed before, this is not your first book but probably your second or third.
Ralph Moulton said
This book is basically a review of the C# specification with (very) simple examples. If you are not an experienced object oriented programmer you are going to be completely lost in this book, as it does not cover any programming concepts. If you are experienced in another object oriented language, the book is mostly overkill. I did like the LINQ introduction, but I wish the author had shown how to use it with an actual database.
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