Alan Fryer said
As a manager, I look for books that can help me but also help my team. This book did both. It is the C# version of the effective C++ books.
To me it is a must read for engineers writing/reviewing code in C#.
The only problem with it is that the language is a bit of a moving target so the most effective ways to use C# is changing. To me, instead of having an effective C# book and a more effective C# book they should have had just a second edition of the first. This probably is not likely to be solved as I imagine many will be just digesting C# 3.0 with 4.0 looming on the horizon. This, however, is beyond the authors control.
Wallace P. Middleton said
If want to employ and understand the reason behind best practices in C# development, then this book and it's sequel More Effective C#: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C# will prove invaluable.
I'm taking it slow, reading one tip a day and reviewing the title of previously read tips each day in hopes to make these "Specific Ways" part of my nature as a C# developer. Several of them, such as "Prefer Properties to Accessible Members" were already apart of my normal practice, but others such as benefits of preferring "Conditional Attributes Instead of #if" were a surprise :-)
Also in the process of reading C# in Depth: What you need to master C# 2 and 3 and highly recommend it as well!... must haves for developers who strive to be experts at their craft.
henry000 said
First of all, the positive of the book includes:
- The use of simple examples to illustrate the points;
- Good coverage of common noted C# pitfalls and characteristics (such as the standard dispose pattern to clean up unmanaged resources);
However, some shortfalls of the book includes:
- Glaring typos throughout the book, such as words join together without spaces in between (you don't see this often!);
- Some points are not illustrated so well - for example, in Item 6 (value vs. reference types), the author uses this line trying to demonstrate a point:
e1.Salary += Bonus; // Add one time bonus.
which is clearly not a good one, because what that line does is, instead of adding "one time bonus", it is really permanently incrementing the salary once for all.
- The writing style could be more succinct and clearer.
Overall, while the content and intention are good, the book could be better.
Dave Black said
This book is the difference between a programmer who knows C# and becoming a true C# "craftsman". Absolutely recommended!
Steve Otto said
This book would benefit greatly from a rewrite. It is often difficult to follow the authors' logic. I get the impression that this book was rushed to print. A simple example of this is the fact that all the left-hand pages are incorrectly indented so that they run into the binding of the book. Please adjust your publishing software!
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